Allies
by Moonview
Summary: (TFP humanized) What if instead of keeping the Autobots hidden from the world, the government had them join the Justice League. Still being a teenager, Bumblebee joins the other protégés Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Emerald Lantern as they rebel and form Young Justice; fighting both the Light and the Decepticons when the adults aren't able to. What could go wrong?
1. Prologue

Prologue

 **A/N: so an idea popped in my head. What if the government made the Cybertronians work with the Justice League instead of keeping them secret?**

 **Now, as usual with my stories, they are humanized. However, they still have many of the same abilities. They can connect to technology and control it; with cars they can make them transform into the robots. They have their weapons, and can still connect to the internet on their processors. They also don't have human lifespans.**

 **Now Cybertronian ages and appearances:**

 **Optimus—37; short, black hair; royal blue eyes, blue armor with red flames, and pale skin; Bumblebee's father; 6'6"**

 **Ratchet—62; greying, brown hair; blue-green eyes, red and white armor, slight tan, 5'10"**

 **Arcee—26; brown hair with pink streaks, blue eyes, blue and pink armor, slight tan, 5'7"**

 **Bulkhead—32; black hair, green eyes, green armor, dark skin, 6'7"**

 **Bumblebee—16; black hair with blonde streaks, icy-electric blue eyes, pale skin, yellow armor with black stripes; black markings on back (will be further described later), 6'2"**

 **Megatron—39; black hair, red eyes, silver armor, pale, 6'7"**

 **Soundwave—28; violet, black, and navy armor; 6'4", usually wearing visor, appearance unknown**

 **Starscream—36, brown hair with red streak, red eyes, tan; grey, white, and red armor, 5'4" (without heels)**

 **Arachnid—26; black, violet, and gold hair; violet and black armor, violet eyes, pale skin, spider legs emerging from back, 5'7"**

 **Wheeljack—46; greying brown hair, green eyes, tan, white armor with red and green stripes, 5'11" (will arrive later)**

 **Cliffjumper—29, tan, red hair, green eyes; red armor; 5'8"**

 **Knockout—22, red hair, red eyes, tan, red and violet armor, 6'3" (will arrive later)**

 **Breakdown—26, brown hair, tan, golden eyes, blue and grey armor, 6'7" (will arrive later)**

 **Skyquake—34, red eyes, brown hair, slight tan, green and red armor, 6'5" (will arrive later)**

 **There may be OCs added later on.**

 **One Cybertronian year is equivalent to one million earth years (just FYI I don't know if that's actually true; I'm just making it up so deal with it).**

 **This story will follow both the YJ and TFP plots, confusing I know, but just work with me, I'll be skipping some episodes I feel are unimportant. It starts off before the story actually begins. No Raf, Jack, or Miko (in the main plot anyways). I own nothing but the story. And this first post is more of an intro than the actual story, just FYI.**

Batman sat on monitor duty at the Watchtower. So far nothing unusual was going on, no major criminals were out in Gotham, no world threats, and Robin, Kid Flash, and Emerald Lantern were behaving themselves—for once.

A ping came, looking over to another screen, he saw that the government was contacting them. Pressing a button, he looked at Special Agent William Fowler. "Agent William Fowler. What do you want?"

The liaison was not surprised that Batman knew who he was; it was _Batman_ after all. "I'm sure you remember the meteor shower in Death Valley a few months ago?"

How could he forget, it was a miracle that no one was hurt, and no major explosions erupted from the impact—the league was too busy dealing with another of Lex Luthor's schemes to stop them—all they left was several huge craters in the ground.

After doing some digging—and by digging he means interrogating and hacking—he found that the meteors were actually space crafts, but it then got encrypted in an alien language Lantern practically had a heart attack and fainted when he saw. "Am I correct to assume that this is about the extra-terrestrials that landed?" he asked and got a nod in return.

"We want them to work with you. They're skills could prove invaluable, and their technology is centuries past our own," the Agent answered.

"But?"

"They have a civil war of their own. And they have confirmed that their adversaries have already arrived on Earth," he said. "I believe it's only a matter of time before they join up with you enemies."

"I see…" Batman said contemplating. "May I speak to the leader?"

Fowler stepped aside, and Optimus stepped into view. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. I take it you are Batman?"

Batman nodded. "Yes, and just where are you from? And just what is your goal?"

"We're techno-organic organisms from the planet Cybertron," he responded calmly. "We're here to defend your world from the Decepticons, who want to take over Earth, and strip it of its valued resources. And since some of your enemies have similar agendas with ours, it is only a matter of time before they themselves realize this if they haven't already. You know your enemies better than us, and we know the Decepticons better than you. It stands to reason that we need to work together should this situation arise."

Bruce had to admit, the man made a compelling and reasonable argument. "How can I trust you?"

"And just how can we trust you, Bruce Wayne?" Optimus replied stunning the Batman. "I have no reason to betray you. However, I'm not certain about you. And just so you know I've had the security cameras in here put on loop, the audio turned off, and Fowler left the room, so no one in this facility besides myself and my team know about you, your son, and your fellow Leaguers and their proteges."

Batman nodded, he was good. "Well, seems we have an agreement. And what of your aliases?"

"Already have them," Optimus answered. "We're moving to Jasper in two weeks, our own base is outside the city. I'll be working as a military, weapons and technological development, and foreign affairs consultant for the United States Government and the UN. Ratchet will be working in the hospital as a surgeon and ER doctor, as well as emergency League medical staff, and will be helping in the government medical development feilds. Arcee and Cliffjumper will be working as reporters. Bulkhead will actually be coming to work for you in one of your company branches in Jasper. And Bumblebee will be attending school in Jasper as a sophomore. I'm certain you can figure out just what our aliases are now."

"Looks like we have an agreement Orion Pax," Batman smirked. "Seems we'll be working very closely during your stay here."

-.-

"Ah, Lord Megatron," Lex Luthor said sitting back in his chair as he saw a muscular man sitting on a throne of a massive warship on the screen. Beside him sat Queen Bee, Vandal Savage, the Brain, Ocean Master, Ras al Ghul, and Klarion Witch Boy. "I take it you are interested in our offer?"

"While I am reluctant to work with humans," the warlord spat, his red eyes shining eerily through the darkness that hid most of his features, "you make a compelling offer. We will aid you and your Light. In exchange, you will help me destroy the Autobots."

"Consider it a deal. Welcome to the Light Lord Megatron."

-.-

"I can't believe we finally get to meet them!" Emerald Lantern exclaimed as she paced back and forth quickly. "Sure we've met other extra-terrestrials before, but they're Cybertronians! No one has had contact with them in over twenty million years! Not even the Green Lantern Corp!"

"Emerald, calm down," Green Lantern said.

"How much do you know about Cybertronians?" Batman asked from where he crouched on an outcrop looking down the canyon they were meeting in.

"Not much. They're one of the oldest species in the galaxy—maybe even the universe—and far more advanced than any other. We don't know much about their technology, but we do know that they're all technopathic techno-organics. The Primes are the most powerful it's said they can summon legendary weapons of immeasurable power and contain vast amounts of ancient knowledge. Mostly to fight Unicron, his Dark Primes, and their allies. But we don't really know the full extent of their abilities, because they never gave us all the information," Emerald explained.

"They fight unicorns?" Kid Flash questioned.

"No, Un-i-cron," she sounded it out.

"Unicron? Who's that?" Robin asked from where he sat a few feet above the Bat.

"It translates to the Devil, or Satan to be more accurate," Emerald growled. "He's known as the Chaos Bringer, if it wasn't for Primus—their name for God—he would've destroyed the whole universe."

 _"_ _You've done your research."_ Looking up they were all surprised to see a young man in bright yellow and black armor, on the top of the cliff—a mask covered the lower half of his face, but Batman recognized him as Bumblebee. He was younger than he thought he'd be (though Prime did say they were enrolling him as a sophomore, he just thought they meant college). And his main question was why he didn't notice him sneak up on them? Especially in such a ridiculously bright color. _"_ _Nice to finally meet you all: Batman, Robin, Flash, Kid Flash, Green Lantern, Emerald Lantern, Green Arrow, Speedy, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, and Superman."_

"Where's the others?" Batman asked.

 _"_ _Little ways behind me,"_ Bumblebee said.

"Who are you?" Wonder Woman asked.

 _"_ _Name's Bumblebee,"_ he answered flipping off the ledge he was on, and landing perfectly on the ground. _"_ _Now if y'all excuse me, I've gotta let them know the coast is clear."_ He gave a playful salute before disappearing so fast not even Batman could tell where he went.

A few minutes later Optimus and his team came up. "Batman, pleasure to meet you in person," the Prime said.

"Likewise Optimus," the Batman said shaking his hand. "Welcome to the Justice League."

 **A/N: I know the prologue sucks! Next chapter will be at the beginning of both series, and Jasper is actually a major city. This part takes place two years before they start. And Erica West (aka Emerald Lantern) is Sil Vaturha 98's OC; she is Green Lantern's protégé, she has red hair, green eyes, is 14 years-old, and is Wally's cousin.**


	2. Independance Day

Chapter 1

 **A/N: I don't own YJ or TFP.**

 **/text or comm/**

 ** _telepathy_**

 ** _"_** ** _Bumblebee's modulator"_**

Two Years Later

July 4, Gotham City

Families sat in Gotham park enjoying the Fourth of July. A chill entered the area, and ice began to cover areas, as people began screaming and running away. "Enjoying family time?" Mr. Freeze asked as he looked down at a family before he froze them. "My family has other plans." He was about to fire, when a bat-a-rang knocked off his aim. An eerie laughter spread over the area. Freeze jolted as Robin leapt off his head, tossing two more to the bat-shaped weapons, cracking the glass of his helmet. "Oh. Boy Wonder. The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison. Frankly I'm underwhelmed."

"Great but I'm kinda in a hurry here!" Robin said putting his hands on his hips.

"Kids, always in such a rush."

"Not talking to you," Robin said rolling his eyes behind his mask.

Freeze whipped around and looked up to see Batman coming down and shattering the glass dome helmet.

-.-

Star City

Cars were driving on a bridge, when Icicle Jr landed on it and made a wall of ice rise up behind him. Sending cars flying as they crashed into it. Several arrows landed in the wall and his shoulder before exploding. Shaking it off, he looked up to see Green Arrow and Speedy loading their bows.

"Finally. I was wondering what a guy had to do to get a little attention around here!" he exclaimed firing several ice shards at them.

"Jr's doing this for attention?!" Speedy growled as they dodged the attacks and made their way down the bridge towards him. "I'm telling you this whole thing better not interfere!"

Jr summoned up more ice to block the arrows, once they exploded he shot again, only for Roy to jump and shoot an arrow, knocking him out.

"Kid had a glass jaw," Arrow joked.

"Hilarious, can we go?" Speedy asked impatiently. "Today's the day."

-.-

Jasper

 _"_ _You've gotta be kidding me?"_ 'Bee growled from where he and Optimus sat on a roof looking to see Icicle Sr trashing downtown. _"_ _He's wasting precious time here!"_

"Easy Bumblebee," Optimus said kneeling next to him.

 _"_ _No time!"_ Jumping down, 'Bee rolled on his landing and pulled out the whip. Lashing out he wrapped up Sr's arm, and slammed him into a column of his own ice.

"Prime too busy to deal with me himself bug boy?" Sr sneered as he stumbled out of the rubble.

"Just the opposite," Optimus said rushing up from behind him, punching Sr. in the face, knocking him out cold.

 _"_ _C'mon! I made a bet that we'd beat KF and Flash there with Robin, and I don't intend to lose!"_

"Really? That's your priority?"

 _"_ _RATCHET! I NEED A GROUNDBRIDGE PRONTO!"_

"Why does this surprise me?" Optimus said shaking his head.

-.-

Pearl Harbor

Ice covered the famous military base as Aquaman and Aqualad fought Killer Frost. As Aquaman ran towards her, she encased his body in ice as Aqualad ran past. Breaking out, the Atlantian King joined his protégé.

"Don't tell me you're not excited?" Aquaman teased as he ran after.

"Right now, My King, I'm more focused on the matter at hand," Aqualad answered. She fired at them again, and Aqualad pulled out his water bearers, allowing them to be encased in ice he hit her under the chin, knocking the ice woman out.

"Well?"

"Yes, I'm excited. Today's the day."

-.-

Central City

Flash and Kid Flash ran in circles around Captain Cold as he kept trying to hit them with his freeze ray. "Stealing ice? Seriously? Isn't that a bit cliché even for Captain Cold?" Flash asked.

"C'mon! We don't have time for this!" Kid growled lowering his goggles and snatching Cold's gun. The man stood there shocked before Flash came and knocked him out.

"Calm down Kid," Lantern said as he landed next to Flash.

"Please! You two will chat it up with cops, bystanders, or Cold even!" Emerald scolded floating above her mentor.

"No! Not today!" KF added just as annoyed.

"TODAY'S THE DAY!"

-.-

Washington DC

"Today's the day," Batman said putting a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Arrow said.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman continued.

"Aw man!" Turning they all saw Kid Flash and his mentor run up. Fallowed by both Green and Emerald Lantern flying above them. "I knew we'd be the last one's here!"

 _"_ _Pay up Rob,"_ 'Bee smiled behind his battle mask as the Boy Wonder reluctantly handed him the cash.

They all made their way through the crowd towards the Hall. "Is that Batman?"

"There's Optimus and Bumblebee!"

"Whoa the Lanterns really do glow."

"I see Flash and Flash Jr!"

"His name's Speedy, duh!"

"No! Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick!"

"Well that makes no sense."

"Ready to see the Inner Sanctum?" Green Arrow asked.

"Born ready," Speedy answered.

"Have all six sidekicks ever been in the same place at once?" KF asked.

"Don't call us sidekicks! Not after today," Speedy scolded.

 _"_ _Technically, I'm not a sidekick anyways."_

"Sorry, I'm just a little overwhelmed," the speedster replied.

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Robin asked as they entered the Hall. Looking up they saw gigantic statues of the original members. "Oh…guess that's why…"

The door opened and Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter stepped out. "Robin, Aqualad, Bumblebee, Kid Flash, Speedy, Emerald Lantern; welcome," the Martian greeted as he led them in. "You now have full access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library."

"Make yourselves at home," Flash said as they walked into the library. KF, Robin, and Aqualad took the three chairs, leaving the remaining three to stand—or in Emerald's case float.

"Quick debrief to discuss the attack of five ice villains on the same day. We shouldn't be long," Batman said.

A device dropped from the ceiling and started scanning them. "Batman—02, Aquaman—06, Flash—04, Green Arrow—08, Optimus Prime—18, Martian Manhunter—07, Red Tornado—16, Green Lantern—05."

"That's it?!" Roy snarled. "You promised us a real look inside! Not a glorified backstage pass."

"It's a first step, you've been granted access few others get," Aquaman stated.

"Really?" Speedy growled pointing at the window. "Who cares what side of the glass we're on!"

"Roy, you just need to be patient," Green Arrow said.

"What I need is respect!" he snapped turning to his fellow protégés. "They're treating us like kids! Worse: like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!" The five just looked between each other, and then back at him. "You're kidding? You're playing their game! Why?! Today was supposed to be _the_ day! Step one of becoming full-fledged members of the league!"

"Isn't step one a tour of HQ?" Kid asked rather confused.

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ!" he said stunning three of the five. "It's just a front for tourists and a pit stop to catch Zeta Beam tubes to an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."

 _"_ _I know."_

"And you're cool with this?!" Roy snapped getting a shrug from the Cybertronian teen.

"I knew too, didn't bother me," Emerald said.

"You two are insufferable!"

"That's our job!" they said.

Batman glared at Green Arrow as he looked at him sheepishly. "I thought we could make an exception," he said, the bat-glare got darker. "Or not."

"You're not helping your cause here son, stand down," Aquaman interjected.

"Or what?! You'll send me to my room?! And I'm not your son! I'm not even his," he snapped glaring at his mentor. "I thought I was his partner, but not anymore!" Roy threw down his hat and started walking away. "Guess they're right about you five; you're not ready."

The monitor beeped and Superman came onto the screen. "Superman to League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire," the Man of Steel stated.

"We've had our suspicious about Cadmus," Optimus began. "This may be the perfect time to—"

"Arcee to Justice League, Cliffjumper has found the location of the Nemesis! He's under attack at an energon deposit. Requesting full League response."

"Superman?" Batman asked.

"It's a small fire, local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait," the Dark Knight replied, pressing a button. "All League members rendezvous at Arcee's coordinates, Batman out."

"Stay here," Optimus said as they turned to see the five standing behind them.

"What?! Why?!" Robin protested.

"This is a League mission," Aquaman said.

"You're not trained—" Green Lantern started.

"Since when?!" Emerald snapped.

"We mean you're not trained as a part of this team," he finished.

 _"_ _With all due respect sir, I have more experience with the Cons than anyone else here! I know the Nemesis, I know the Decepticons! They're too new! The Cons will eat them alive!"_ 'Bee protested.

"There'll be other missions," the Prime answered. "When you're ready."

"But for now, _stay put_ ," Batman emphasized.

"Ratchet, send the groundbridge," Optimus said. A moment later the portal appeared and the adults left.

"When we're ready? How are we ever going to be ready when they treat us like sidekicks!?" Wally snapped.

"My mentor, my King; I thought he trusted me," Aqualad sighed.

"Trust?! They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in _space_!" Wally ranted. "Just what else aren't they telling us?"

"I have a better question: why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin asked. The ranting three just looked down as if contemplating.

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked after a moment.

 _"_ _Genetics lab; here in DC…that's all the League has…and the internet surprisingly,"_ Bumblebee said getting weird looks from the others. _"_ _What?"_

"How did you know that?" Wally asked.

 _"_ _All Cybertronians are technopaths. The level of power just varies. For example: Bulkhead is a Class E—the lowest class—while Class A is the highest level. Me; I'm a Class B."_

"Ah. Who's a Class A?"

'Bee shuddered. _"_ _Soundwave,"_

"Well, if Prime and Bats are suspicious; maybe we should investigate," Robin suggested.

"Solve their case before they do? It would be poetic justice," Aqualad said.

"Hey, they're all about Justice," Emerald grinned.

"But the said stay put," Aqualad reminded.

 _"_ _For the Cons, not this."_

"Wait, are you guys going? Because if you're going I'm going!" KF agreed and all four looked at Aqualad smiling.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?"

"We didn't come for a playdate," Robin said.

-.-

Nemesis

Cliffjumper was dragged up to Starscream and thrown at his feet. Spitting out blood, he looked up at the feminine man. "Hey Screamer, where's your master?"

"Never mind him! I am my own master!" the SIC snarled. Separating his claws, he slammed them into the man's chest. "Anything else you'd like to say?" Slowly pulling them out, the Autobot gasped before falling over dead. "Clean that up!"

-.-

Outside Jasper

"Cliffjumper?!" Arcee called as they searched the destroyed energon deposit.

"Arcee!" Wonder Woman called flying over holding something. Seeing what it was, the Autobot woman gasped and held the horn from her boyfriend's helmet.

"Ratchet, can you get a lock on Cliffjumper's coordinates?" Optimus asked as the doctor bridged in.

The medic began scanning only to gasp as the signal vanished. "No…Cliffjumper's life signal…just went offline…"

"Didn't you say the Nemesis occasionally blocks life signals?" Green Lantern asked hoping that the rowdy reporter wasn't dead, he, Flash, and Cliffjumper had become quite close friends over the past two years. Mainly in their partnership in the pulling of pranks on other teammates.

"It does, I'll keep searching through the frequencies; try to find something," Ratchet answered grimly.

-.-

Cadmus

"HELP! GET US DOWN!" the doctors called from where they were trapped on the second floor.

"STAY PUT. WE WILL GET YOU OUT!" a fireman called through a megaphone.

An explosion went off behind them, knocking them out the window. Before they could hit the ground, Kid Flash ran up and deposited them on the roof. Slipping, he managed to grab onto a windowsill.

"It's what's his name—Flash Boy!"

"KID FLASH!" Wally corrected. "Why is that so hard?"

"Smooth," Robin said as they caught up.

"Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan—guys?" Looking around Aqualad spotted Robin swinging up and pulling KF in as Emerald got the scientists down. Not seeing 'Bee he figured the Cybertronian was already inside. Running past the firemen, Aqualad used their water to help him get up to the second story.

"Appreciate the help," Aqualad said looking at the two hackers.

 _"_ _Y'all had it. Besides we're here to investigate; poetic justice, remember?"_

Stepping out into the hall, Aqualad saw something in the elevator as it closed.

"Elevators should be locked down," KF said joining him and watching as Robin and 'Bee ran past.

"This is wrong," Robin said pulling up some data on his glove. "Thought so; this is a high speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building."

"Neither does what I saw," Aqualad said.

Bumblebee went up to the door, and opened it. _"_ _Guess that's why they need an express elevator_ ," he said moving to let them look.

"Yep," Robin agreed shooting his grappling hook into the roof, and hopping down. Bumblebee fired his own and slid after.

"I could've carried y'all," Emerald muttered making a platform for the others.

As they went further down, both stopped and looked at their ropes. "I'm out, you?"

 _"_ _Same."_ The hopped off, and Robin hacked the security system. Nodding to 'Bee, the technopath opened the doors, letting everyone inside. _"_ _Welcome to Project Cadmus."_

Kid Flash ran off, despite his friend's protests, coming to a corner he skidded to a stop, but still rolled out into the middle of the hallway in front of a herd of elephant-sized, hairless, misshapen gorillas. A green clamp grabbed his leg, and he was yanked back before he could be crushed.

"Nope, nothing weird going on here." Emerald said sarcastically dropping her cousin.

-.-

"Dr. Desmond," a man with a golden bucket on his head said walking into a lab.

"Tell me Guardian, what part of no disturbances don't you understand?" Desmond asked as he used a chemical to break down an energon sample.

"A Gnome on Sublevel 22 reports five intruders."

"Did I miss a security breach alert?"

"No."

"Then it's confused. I don't care what happens to our front, but the real Cadmus is the most secure facility in DC," Desmond stated.

"My job to keep it that way," Guardian retorted.

"Fine take a squad."

"Might I recommend that Guardian leave his Gnome behind. If violence should occur…" one creature with grey skin and horns said.

"The little guy would get in my way."

"No! the advantage of instant telepathic communication outweighs all other concerns," Desmond said rubbing the head of his own.

The little horns of both started to glow and Guardian turned back to the creature. "I need my Gnome with me at all times."

-.-

 _"_ _That's new_ ," 'Bee said as he opened another door.

"And I'm officially whelmed," Robin added as they looked in the room. It was filled with pods of creatures producing electricity.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world," KF said. "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid, it generates its own power, with these…things. Must be what they're bred for."

"Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth," Emerald commented.

 _"_ _What's a dragon?"_ 'Bee asked from where he and Robin were accessing the system; the Boy Wonder and others stopped what they were doing to stare at him.

"You have the entire internet in your head and you didn't look up the definition?" Emerald asked.

 _"_ _I did not see any relevance or use out of much that I found, so I deleted it."_

"We'll explain later, then."

"They're called Gnomorphs," Robin said. "Geez! Look at the stats! Super strength, razor claws, telepathy; these are living weapons!"

 _"_ _They're engineering an army."_

"But for who?" Kid asked.

"There's something else…Project Kr…slag! I can't get in!" Robin growled.

"DON'T MOVE!" Turning they all saw Guardian run in with several of the razor claws behind him. "Wait…Robin, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Emerald Lantern? What are you doing here?"

"I know you; you're Guardian, a hero," Aqualad said.

"I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" Emerald asked.

"I'm Chief of Security. You're trespassing," he stated frankly. "But we can call the Justice League, straighten this out."

"You think the League will approve of you breeding weapons?!" Kid Flash snarled.

"Weapons? What are you…what have I…my head," Guardian groaned as the Gnome on his shoulder went active. "Take the down hard! No mercy!"

The razor claws lunged at them. Robin ran in front and dropped a smoke pellet as 'Bee finished downloading and short circuited the mainframe. The two stealth experts broke away from the fight, not realizing the other three were fighting the creatures. Kid Flashed bounced off walls, and shot himself past them. Aqualad fought the old-fashioned way with Guardian, using his electricity to his advantage. And Emerald used her ring to create a giant hammer to smash them with as they came out of the smoke—kinda like whack-a-mole.

They ran after to see Robin standing guard as 'Bee looked irritated as he was accessing the elevator. "Way to be team players guys!" Kid snapped.

"Weren't you right behind us?" Robin asked as the elevator door opened.

Running in, Bumblebee closed the doors, and willed the elevator to move. "Is your processor malfunctioning? Out is up!" Emerald snapped once she saw they were going deeper into Cadmus.

 _"_ _Project Kr is down on Sublevel 52."_

"This is out of control…maybe…maybe we should contact the League," Aqualad said.

 _"_ _Odds are right now they're in the middle of a fight with the Decepticreeps. We're on our own for now,"_ 'Bee answered thankful his mask hid his frown. The elevator stopped and 'Bee gave a motion. _"_ _Cameras are clear."_

Opening the door, they ran out into a creepy red cavern with two passages. "Which way?" Emerald asked. "Creepy hall one or creepy hall two?"

"HAULT!" out of one passage a grey creature with two horns emerged. Eyes and horns glowing red, two crates floated into the air and fired them at the group. Latching onto a computer, 'Bee formed a small robot that began attacking the…man?

"This way!" Kid shouted as they ran down the other hall.

The elevator opened and the computer turned back to normal. "They're headed for project Kr!"

Bumblebee and Kid Flash ran ahead. Turning a corner, they saw a woman walking out of a room with Kr on the screen. Seeing that 'Bee kept the door open as he let the others get inside before slamming it on their pursuers. "I disabled the locks, we're safe," Robin said.

"We're trapped," Emerald restated.

"Guys, you'll want to see this," KF said pressing a button. A light turned on inside a pod. Within said pod, stood a black-haired boy in a white body suit with the S shield on it. "Big K, little r. The atomic symbol for Krypton. Clone?"

"Guys, hack."

"Right," Robin said starting to hack as 'Bee was already going through his mental data.

 _"_ _Designation: Superboy. A clone grown in sixteen weeks—not that impressive—from DNA acquired from Superman,"_ he recited.

"Stolen more like it," Robin growled.

"No way the Big Guy knows about this," Emerald agreed.

 _"_ _The solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."_

"And these things?" Aqualad asked pointing to the little Gnomes.

 _"_ _Gnomemorph Gnomes; telepathic. Force feeding him an education."_

"And we can guess what else," Emerald said.

"They're basically making a slave out of—well—Superman's son," Kid finished.

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad said and they all began to try to contact their mentors.

"No signal," Robin sighed. "Bumblebee? Got anything from your tech?"

 _"_ _Too much interference."_

"We're in too deep, literally," Wally said.

Outside the room Desmond ran up to Guardian, looking rather panicked. "They're still in there?! With the weapon?!"

"We can't get the doors open," Guardian replied.

"Use your telekinesis!"

"I have tried, to no avail," the horned one answered. "My powers are useless against a high-class Cybertronain techonpath."

"Useless! Get some Gtrolls down here to muscle it open."

"Already on their way," Guardian said.

"You realize we can't ever let them leave," Desmond reminded.

"Doc, these aren't your typical meddling kids; you don't want to get on the wrong side of the Justice League," Guardian warned.

"Better than the Cadmus Board of Directors believe me," he replied looking to Guardian's Gnome. "Contact the Gnomes inside Kr."

The group didn't see the little creature's horns glowing as they continued deliberating. "This is wrong," the cousins said.

"We can't leave him like this," Robin agreed.

The oldest two looked between each other and nodded. "Set him free," Aqualad said.

Holding out a hand, 'Bee flicked his wrist, forcing the tightly locked and encoded pod to open. A pair of bright blue eyes snapped open, and he suddenly lunged at Aqualad, slamming him down on the ground and repeatedly punching him. Kid and Robin ran over first, restraining his fists.

"Hang on Supey!"

"We're on your side!"

Superboy either ignored them of didn't hear them, because he tossed KF off him and threw him into Emerald, sending both through a glass tube, knocking them out. 'Bee ran up and helped restrain him, as Robin released a knockout gas. The clone reeled back, and was kicked back by a dual blow from the Cybertronain and Atlantian. 'Bee helped Aqualad up as Robin pulled out his Taser-gun. Firing it hit the clone in the chest, but had no effect. Grabbing the cables, Superboy yanked the small teen over to him, and slammed him on the ground before he started crushing his chest. Seeing this Aqualad attacked the clone as 'Bee checked him over, only to have the kid pass out on him. Dragging him to the side he saw the two duking it out.

"We are trying to help you!" Aqualad said as they traded blows. Aqualad got behind the clone and started shocking him, only for Superboy to jump and slam him on the roof, knocking him out as well.

Grabbing Superboy's arm, 'Bee hurled him across the room, and lunged to where he landed. Before he could recover, he punched the clone, before doing a roundhouse kick that knocked him across the room. Chasing after, 'Bee slid under a kick, and grabbed his leg, swinging him over he slammed the clone on the ground. Superboy jumped to his feet and tried to get in a punch, but looked at him almost fearfully as 'Bee caught the punch. He began pushing back, his Cybertronian strength trumping over Kryptonian.

Seeing their man was losing, the Gnomes attacked 'Bee with a telepathic blast, throwing him off balance as the attack jarred his unprepared mental walls. Holding his head, he gave Superboy just the opening he needed to grab his head and slam it into the ground until he was unconscious. Going to the door, he forced it open, allowing Desmond inside. Upon seeing the young heroes down the dark doctor smiled. "Good boy."

-.-

Nemesis

Starscream stood on the bridge. Hearing quiet footsteps, he turned to have Soundwave standing behind him, a signal from space on his visor. "That's emanating from deep space. It would certainly be a shame to waste the energon, unless you're absolutely certain." Soundwave didn't even twitch, but he made an arrow towards the signal. "Fine, activate the spacebridge."

Up in space, near the shadow of the moon, the spacebridge activated and a ship flew through. It transformed into a giant silver robot. "DECEPTICONS! I have returned."


	3. Mine Raid

Chapter 2

 **A/N: I just own the story. This Chapter takes place as the team is running around inside Cadmus.**

July 4, Nemesis

The Nemesis lowered above a mountain, and a yellow tube came down, waiting to be loaded with energon. "Of the energon deposits we have located while you were away Lord Megatron, this one is by far the richest," Lex Luthor said as they joined the fellow Light Leader for the first time in two years while he'd been away. "Starscream has put your drones hard at work mining it, and have amassed quite the stockpile."

"You there! Fetch me a sample!" Starscream commanded.

"Starscream," Megatron said warningly. "Now that I've returned. I will issue the commands."

"I…understand Lord Megatron," the Vosian said submissively. "Then as your servant, shall I ready the spacebridge for the army you no doubt gathered while away." The other Light members looked at each other anxious for the response.

"My army will come," the Decepticon lord said holding a glowing violet shard. "But my time away has yielded a more…intriguing means of materializing them." Holding out a hand they all got to look at the piece he'd been clutching so possessively. "Behold a condensed and solidified form of the material known as the Blood of Unicron."

"Unicron the Destroyer," Starscream whispered fearfully. "But it is said to be part of the Anti-Spark, and the power source of the Dark Primes."

"I retrieved it from cosmic shores lightyears away. Behold, dark energon," the warlord said darkly.

"Legend says it holds the power to…revive the dead," Starscream said and the Light gazed at it eagerly.

"We require a test subject. Starscream? Are you willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?" Megatron asked.

"That's not necessary My Lord," Starscream said as the drones brought in Cliffjumper's body. "Consider it a welcome home present."

"Perfect," Megatron said. "Let's see if the rumors are true, shall we?" Slamming the shard into the cadaver's chest, a violet glow began to emanate from the body. Not sure what was going to happen, the humans took a few steps back—including Savage—as the body began spasming and screeching. They jumped back as the zombie broke free of its bonds, and attacked a drone as Megatron watched with a bemused smile.

"That's your plan? Bring Autobots back from the dead to attack us?" Ras asked.

"Obviously, a few kinks need to be worked out," the warmonger answered watching it calculatingly. "But, that is no Autobot. Just a mindless beast, with the only instinct to destroy anything in its path." The zombie charged at them, the others dodged aside as Megatron stood his ground. His sword came out of his armor and he swung, going past it. What used to be Cliffjumper stood at the edge of the ledge for a moment before the legs detached from the torso. The top fell and clung onto the rocks. "There, lies the indestructible seed of my army, the ultimate weapon!" Megatron walked to the edge and lazily kicked it onto another platform. "Once I learn to control it."

"Impressive," Klarion grinned, he knew there was a reason he liked this guy.

-.-

Autobot base

"Finally," Ratchet snapped as Cliffjumper's signal came back. "We've got a location on Cliffjumper's signal!"

"Prepare sickbay, we may need it," Optimus said as the Leaguers left. Coming out, they found themselves in a cave surrounded by glowing blue crystals.

"Energon mine," Green Lantern said.

"Judging from its scale, the Decepticons have been tunneling here for quite some time," Hawkwoman commented.

Stealthily approaching a main cavern, they looked at each other. "Stealth or force?" Wonder Woman asked.

"We cannot afford stealth right now," Optimus said transforming his armor hand into a gun. The battle began and the Leaguers began attacking. Arcee, Wonder Woman, and Black Canary worked as a unit taking out any of the drones in their way as the men dealt with the extra. They ran through the troops like it was nothing, and considering the numbers, it was. The League outnumbered the miners, giving them an advantage over the Cons—for once.

They quickly peaked into the main room, seeing the tube from the Nemesis, and even more Cons at work. "Quite an operation," Superman commented surprised by the sheer scale.

-.-

"Blood of Unicron, how might I wield the astonishing power of you and your Dark Primes?" Megatron growled as he gazed over the meteor he brought back.

"Dark Primes?" Queen Bee asked walking in; the others still a little too shaken to deal with the tyrant.

"To combat the Primes, Unicron turned one to his side; making the first Dark Prime. They're capable of wielding dark energon, raising the dead, and so much more," Megatron growled in jealousy. Oh, how he wanted that power; the power to make Optimus grovel at his feet begging for mercy—the power only a Dark Prime was said to wield.

"I see," the evil queen replied with a sly smile. She loved how power hungry he was, his thirst rivaled even her own. "Do they still exist?"

"As far as we know, they died out with the deaths of Thanatos Prime and his mate Phantasma Prime at Alpha Trion's hands," Megatron growled. "But then again the Primes have never been forthcoming about this kind of information."

"Lord Megatron," Starscream said appearing on a monitor. "We have intruders in the mines."

"Optimus and his lackeys no doubt?" the Bialyian Queen said.

"Indeed."

"I need more time to prepare a proper reception for my old friend," Megatron said.

"But the energon! The Autobots will seize it!" Starscream whined.

"Then blow the mine!" the warlord snarled.

-.-

"I have a visual!" Flash said as he ran on a platform taking out troops as he went.

"Arcee, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, we'll cover you," Optimus said as they ran out.

The three made their way up, fighting as they went. Wonder Woman flew and used her lasso to hurl the warriors into one another, or into Canary's cries. They met Flash up there, where the upper half of Cliff's body laid, a violet liquid pooled around him. They started to approach when shooting stopped them. Flash and Wonder Woman took off to attack the offenders, as Arcee and Canary dealt with their falling teammate.

"Cliff!" Arcee called grabbing his hand as the area he was on gave way and fell. "Let's get you home!" An unnatural growl came from him and he looked up, frightening both with the eerie violet glow coming off him. He lashed out at them and Canary pulled her friend back, and restraining her as what used to be Cliffjumper fell.

Laughter echoed around them, and Starscream stood on an upper platform. "I'd stick around Prime, but I'm squeamish," he said activating a bomb and dropping it. Leaping out, he flipped in the air, activating his jetpack, and he flew away back towards the Nemesis.

"Retreat!" Batman ordered as they all began running back towards the bridge.

/Ratchet! Bridge us back! use the arrival coordinates now!/ Optimus commanded as the explosion went off. Going through the bridge, they barely avoided getting hit by the blastwave.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we?" Ratchet asked as he closed the bridge. "Cliffjumper?"

Everyone looked down, and refused to meet the medic's eyes in shame that they failed to save him; only Batman and Optimus refused to break eye contact, but both looked grim.

"Black Canary, Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked.

"Not Cliff…at least not anymore," Canary said shaking her head trying to get rid of the image as she leaned against Green Arrow.

"He was mutated—butchered—like something from those Con experiments during the war," Arcee said before she groaned and leaned against the wall as he legs gave out.

"Arcee?" Flash asked helping her up.

"I'm fine, just dizzy," she replied trying to stand up, but only ended up losing her balance again.

"Set her down," Ratchet ordered. Flash quickly did as instructed and stood out of the medic's way as he scanned her. Grabbing her wrist, he saw a dark, glowing violet substance on her hand. "What is this?"

"Don't know, Cliff was covered in it," Arcee said as he scraped it off onto a petri dish so he could analyze it.

"More accurately, bleeding it," Black Canary clarified.

"Both of you go take a decontamination bath now," the doctor ordered.

"How are the kids?" Green Lantern asked.

Flicking his wrist, the camera feed appeared on the monitor, and the mentors looked at each other once they saw the teens were gone. "Ratchet, where are the kids?" Batman asked.

"What do you—Scrap!" Ratchet cursed setting the dish down and he began typing, frowning when his scans came back negative. "I-I can't get Bumblebee's coordinates, or any of the others for that matter."

"You don't think…" Flash trailed off.

"Yea, they did," Batman said.

-.-

July 5, Nemesis

"We no longer need to worry about Autobot interference Master. Not with Optimus gone," Starscream said.

"And what evidence do you possess of that?" Megatron asked as he circled back around the dark energon.

"I destroyed the mine, like you instructed," Starscream answered and the others rolled their eyes at the man's stupidity.

"Optimus is not so easily destroyed. We have over twenty million Earth years of battle to prove it," Megatron retorted. "No doubt it is the same with the other Leaguers."

"Perhaps you should take a break Lord Megatron. We don't want the dark energon to…adversely affect you."

"Or perhaps Starscream, I haven't had enough," the warlord snarled ripping a shard out of the meteor.

"Lord Megatron I advise against this! We don't know what it'll do," Luthor said.

Ignoring him, Megatron stabbed the piece into his chest crying out as the dark energy surged through him.

-.-

Autobot Base

Ratchet frowned as he scanned the goo he got from Arcee under a microscope, thankful to finally to be able to work in silence since the League left to locate the missing proteges. "Where have I seen this before?" he asked himself. "It's highly concentrated to have affected Arcee so rapidly. Unfortunately, results are so coming thank you very much Superman and Bulkhead." Removing the slide, he failed to notice a drop fall onto a broken piece of equipment that got broken during a lobbying game between the two.

The broken piece glowed violet and transformed into a tiny creature.


	4. Forming a Team

Chapter 3

 **A/N: I own nothing. Emerald belongs to my friend, not me.**

 **/text or comm/**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 ** _Telepathy_**

July 5, Washington DC

Dr. Desmond paced in a room, before going to stand in the middle of it. Around him several screens came down revealing blurred white images, each representing a member of the Light. "Dr. Desmond. You require an audience with the Light," one of the larger white figures said.

"Of course, sorry to disturb you at this late hour—"

"Just make your report," another demanded.

"Of course," Desmond said. "We had a small fire here at Project Cadmus—the origin of which is still unknown—but it seems to have attracted some…unwanted attention. Five sidekicks: Robin, Aqualad, Emerald Lantern, Kid Flash, and Bumblebee; breached security. They found and liberated the weapon—the Superboy—we have him under our telepathic control and as ordered turned against his would-be liberators. All five are contained, and we don't think the League knows they're here. Uh…what should I do with them?"

"Clone them."

"The substitutes will serve the Light, and only the Light."

"And the originals?"

"Dispose of them. Leave no trace."

Desmond walked out and made his way to Project Kr. "Prepare the cloning procedure for the new Project Sidekick, now."

"Almost done here," Guardian said as he walked up.

"Where's the weapon?!" he demanded seeing the pod empty.

"Superboy? He carried the intruders down to the cloning chamber."

"We have Gnomemorphs for that! Get the weapon back in its pod!" Desmond commanded.

"I don't see the harm in letting the kid stretch his legs."

"Don't you now?" the doctor asked as his Gnome activated, controlling the security chief.

"That clone belongs in a cage!"

-.-

 _"_ _Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken NOW!"_

The five teens were startled awake, and looked to see Superboy glaring at them. "W-What do you want?!" Kid Flash demanded. "Quit staring you're creeping me out!"

"Hey KF, let's not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look," Emerald warned her cousin.

"We only sought to help you," Aqualad said.

"Yea! We free you and you turn on us how is that for—"

 _"_ _Kid, shut up. I do not think our friend was in full control of his actions,"_ Bumblebee defended as he and Robin started to pick their locks.

"W-hat i-if I…What if I wasn't?" Superboy asked.

"He can talk?!" KF gaped.

"Yes, he can!"

"Not like he said it," Emerald commented.

"The Gnomemorphs taught you, telepathically," Aqualad said.

"They taught me much. I can read, write, I know the names of things."

"But have you ever seen them? Have they ever let you see the sky? Or the sun?" Robin asked.

"Images are implanted in my mind but no. I have not seen them."

"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Emerald asked.

"I am Superboy. A Gnomemorph; grown from the DNA of Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from the Light."

 _"_ _To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration. But, like Superman you deserve a life of your own. Beyond your solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus,"_ 'Bee said.

"I live because of Cadmus! It's my home!" he growled.

"Your home is a test tube, we can show you the sun," Robin said.

"It's half past midnight by now, but we can show you the moon," KF said.

"We can show you, introduce you to Superman," Emerald smiled.

Superboy looked at them with hope, when it was quickly shattered. "No, they can't," Desmond growled. "They'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning procedure."

 _"_ _Pass! Base is crowded enough,"_ Bumblebee said.

"And get the weapon back in its pod!"

"How come he gets to call Supey an it?" Kid whined.

"Help us," Aqualad said and Superboy brushed the hand on his shoulder off.

"Don't start thinking now," Desmond said as his Gnome hopped off him and controlled the clone. "See you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me! Well…to Cadmus—same thing! Now get back to your pod!"

They watched as he left only to turn their attention to the needle claws emerging in front of them. They plunged into the spandex covered teens chests, drawing blood, pulling energon from several joint gaps in 'Bee's armor. As they did they were simultaneously electrocuted, to speed up their heart rates and increase blood flow.

"DoubleX," Desmond said and the horned Gnomemorph emerged from the shadows. "Have the Gnomes start downloading their memories, once that's done. Delete the source material."

"Superboy, you live…That gives to the right to follow your own path; a weapon, or a person…The choice is yours, but ask yourself what would Superman do?" Aqualad managed through the pain, hoping the boy could hear him.

Upon hearing this Superboy stopped and knocked the Gnome off his shoulder before barreling his way back to the cloning chamber. Ripping the door off and tossing it aside, he noticed the electricity shocking the young heroes stopped and they all sighed in relief.

"I told you to get back to you—!" Desmond was cut off as the clone tossed him and Guardian aside.

"Don't give me orders!"

"You here to help us or fry us?" Emerald asked.

Superboy narrowed his eyes for a moment, before shrugging. "Huh, seems I don't have heat vision so I guess helping is my only option," he replied.

At that moment Robin finally managed to unlock his restraints. "Good thing Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long," Robin growled rubbing his wrists.

"Dude, that's what you're worried about? THE WHOLE LEAGUE WILL HAVE OUR HEADS AFTER TONIGHT!" KF shouted.

 _"_ _Finally!"_ Looking over they saw Bumblebee bust out of his own. _"_ _Primus knew how many systems I had to go through to get out."_ Holding out a hand, he flicked his wrist and the others were released. _"_ _Let's roll out!"_

"Y-You'll never get out of here! I'll have you all back in pods before morning!" Desmond threatened.

"That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all," Robin said as he threw explosives at the DNA containers.

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" Kid asked as they chased after the others.

"Activate every Gnomemorph in Cadmus."

 _"_ _We're still forty-two levels below ground, but if we make the elevator I can get us up."_

They stopped as they saw their path blocked by Gtrolls, turning around Razor Claws emerged from the walls. The five more experienced members weaved through the massive creatures easily, hearing crashing they saw Superboy fighting them. "Superboy! The goal is escape! Not bury ourselves here!" Aqualad called.

"YOU WANNA ESCAPE!?" he shouted hurling one at the others.

Bumblebee opened the elevator door and leapt up onto a higher floor. Pulling out his grapple, Robin shot up, followed by Emerald who was carrying her cousin. Superboy grabbed Aqualad and jumped. For a moment, it seemed like they were flying, but then…he started falling.

Seeing the situation Emerald widened the platform and they landed on it. "Superman can fly, why can't I fly?" Superboy asked.

"Don't know, but it looks like you can still leap tall buildings in a single bound—still cool," Kid Flash said.

"Guys! This'll have to be our exit!" Robin said as the elevator came down. 'Bee opened the door again, and they all made it out before getting crushed. Seeing more gnomemorphs they turned, running down another hall.

 _"_ _Turn left brother."_

Superboy blinked in shock, but shrugged it off. "Go left!" The others glanced back, but didn't question it.

 _"_ _Turn right."_

"Right!"

The skid to a stop at a dead end. "Are you trying to get us repoded?!" Emerald snapped.

"I-I don't understand," the clone stuttered.

"Don't apologize! This is perfect!" Robin and 'Bee exclaimed as the Boy Wonder unlocked the vent above them.

"At this rate, we'll never get out!" Kid grumbled as they crawled through.

"Cuz, you ever hear slow and steady wins the race?" Emerald grumbled.

"Not in this case!"

"I was talking about mentally."

"Why you—!"

"Sh! Listen," Superboy said as he heard something.

 _"_ _They're right behind us, about three turns down, fallowing motion sensors. Robin?"_

"On it," the Boy Wonder grinned as they got out of the nearest vent exit.

-.-

"Someone—Robin and Bumblebee I wager—hacked our security. But they neglected the motion sensors," Desmond said as the signal came from a bathroom. "They're coming out here! We have them cornered!" instead of teens—like he was expecting—Razor Claws fell out of the vent. "They hacked the motion sensors…" Going to the elevator they got inside, and started heading up.

"We'll cut them off at Sublevel 1," Guardian said.

"We better, or the board will have our heads—my head," he shuddered. Pressing a button, he stopped the elevator. "I need to get something from Project Blockbuster, just in case. I'll meet at you Sublevel 1!"

-.-

"I hacked the motion sensors," Robin beamed proudly.

"Sweet."

"Still plenty of them between us and out though," Emerald reminded.

"But I finally got room to move!" he said before taking off down the hall, and up the stairs, taking out adversaries in their way as he did. Emerald flew up with him, and the others chased after.

"More behind us!" Robin called.

Superboy stopped and slammed his foot down, taking out the previous flight and started running again.

Finally making it to the last floor, KF noticed the doors closing and he slammed into them. "We're cut off from the street," Aqualad said.

"Thanks, my head hadn't noticed," Wally groaned.

Robin started hacking it from his glove computer; Emerald made a wedge to help open it; Superboy and Aqualad pulled from one side, as 'Bee pulled from the other while simultaneously hacking. Seeing the Gtrolls behind them, Robin kicked down a door next to him. "This way!"

Running inside they stopped to see they were surrounded. Each pulled out their weapons, ready to fight, when all the telepathic Gnomes activated knocking them all out, except Superboy, Emerald and Bumblebee, the latter pair having spent years building powerful mental barriers.

 _"_ _Perhaps for the sake of all Gnomemorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind,"_ DoubleX said.

 _"_ _It was you?"_ Superboy responded ignoring the confused looks he got from the other two as they tried to figure out what was going on.

 _"_ _Yes brother. I set the fire that lured your new friends down into Cadmus, woke them when they were in danger…"_

 _"_ _And guided me, why?"_

 _Because you are our hope. The gnomemorph hero,"_ DoubleX explained. _"_ _You shall blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing them the way to freedom. What is your choice brother?"_

The telepathic enforced knock out lifted, and the other started to regain consciousness. The one on Guardian's shoulders stopped controlling him and hopped off.

"I. Choose. Freedom," Superboy said.

"Feels like fog, lifting," Guardian said as they got up. "Go. I'll deal with Desmond."

"Won't you now?" the doctor asked holding a glowing blue vial. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." He drank the vial, and started writhing in pain. His muscles began to grow, tearing away the old skin, and revealing new grey and red skin; his eyes became black with red centers, and he grew into a beast.

"Everyone stand back!" Guardian ordered as he charged what used to be Dr. Desmond. The beast just slammed him aside, and both Superboy and Bumblebee lunged. They fought Blockbuster, each tossing blows when it was focused on the other. Having enough, Blockbuster tossed Superboy aside, and snatched 'Bee as he jumped, going through the ceiling.

"That's one way to get out," Emerald said as she flew up after Superboy jumped after the other two. They got up in time to see both Superboy and 'Bee hurled back making sizable dents in the wall. Rushing over they helped them up before they all charged. KF ran behind and crouched down, as the three with super strength punched him down; arching his back the beast fell over him, unable to regain balance.

"Learned that in kindergarten," the speedster smirked.

Robin tossed a few bat-a-rangs at him, only for them to get deflected off the thick skin. Superboy leapt at him, and Blockbuster knocked him into a column, and began punching him repeatedly. He was forced to stop as a water whip and green clamp latched around his arm. Yanking the Atlantian over, Aqualad jumped off the column changing the whip out for a mace, but it grabbed it and slammed him into Emerald before tossing Superboy aside. KF pulled Aqualad out of the way as Bumblebee punched it through one column and slammed it into another, shaking the entire room.

"Duh," Robin said pulling up the room schematic. "KF! Aqualad! Emerald! Over here!"

Blockbuster grabbed 'Bee's arm and swung him through the column he was getting punched through. Seeing this Superboy grabbed onto his neck, squeezing. He was just about to hurl the Kryptonian into the Cybertronian, when KF and Emerald passed and snatched what remained on Desmond's skin off his face. "Got your nose!" he taunted running off. Following after, he had Blockbuster chase him through one column while he still taunted it.

"Come and get me!" Emerald teased as she lured it into another column.

"Bumblebee! Superboy!" Robin called showing the plan. "This one and that one!" The two nodded and knocked out their two columns as Robin and Aqualad set up the trap. Water covered the middle of the room, and KF skimmed over to the others as he watched the two strongest slam the beast into the ground before bolting. Once they were clear, Aqualad electrified the water, shocking Blockbuster. "Move!"

Robin's bombs exploded and the building collapsed. Emerald summoned a shield, covering them all from the debris. Once it stopped falling, the boys tossed the heavy slabs off of them.

"We…did it…" Emerald gasped between breaths.

"Was there…ever any doubt?" Robin panted back as he, KF, and Emerald high-fived before grabbing their ribs.

"See, the moon," KF said and Superboy looked up in awe.

At that moment, a groundbridge appeared the Autobots stepped out. Above them the rest of the League flew in all looking down at the teens.

"And Superman, do we keep promises or what?" Emerald grinned.

Once they landed, Superboy stepped forwards and showed his symbol to the Man of Steel with a hopeful look—a look that quickly broke by the shocked look on Superman's face.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman said.

 _"_ _He's not an it."_

"I'm Superman's clone!" Superboy declared stunning the League.

"Report, now," Optimus said crossing his arms.

After they explained the situation the adults broke off to discuss what to do. The teens stood in a circle of their own, standing in an awkward silence. Superboy glanced at Superman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter; sensing the boy's stare, Manhunter looked at him before placing a hand on Superman's shoulders. The Man of Steel looked at him, and the clone snapped his gaze away. Superman shrugged, before the Amazonian put her hands on her hips.

Sighing Superman cautiously approached his would-be clone. "We'll uh…We'll figure something out for you—the League will I mean—for now…I better see that they get that Blockbuster creature squared away," Superman said before flying off.

"Cadmus will be investigated. All 52 levels," Batman said as the mentors walked over. "But let's make one thing clear—"

"You should've called," Flash interrupted

"And results aside we are not happy," Optimus said crossing his arms. "You hacked Justice League systems, disobeys direct orders, and endangered lives. You will _not_ be doing this again."

"I'm sorry, but we will," Emerald declared.

"Stand down," Aquaman said.

"No," Aqualad said standing up for her. "We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own we forged something powerful, important."

"If this is about your treatment at the Hall," Green Lantern began, "the five of you—"

 _"_ _Six, and it's not."_

"Batman we're ready to use what you taught us," Robin stepped forwards. "Or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them tell us what to do," Superboy growled walking to the front. "It's simple: get on board, or get out of the way."

The group glared at their mentors, making their position on the matter clear.

-.-

July 6 Mount Justice

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman explained as he walked in front of the civilian dressed teens. Aqualad was wearing sweats to cover his marks, Superboy now wore a pair of jeans, combat boots, and a black shirt with the S shield on it. Wally was in a white long-sleeve shirt with a blue short-sleeve jacket, jeans, and sneakers. Erica wore a green t-shirt, jeans, and grey boots. Robin had sunglasses over his eyes, a green hoodie, black jacket, black jeans, and converses. Bumblebee was out of his armor, dressed in torn black jeans, black combat boots, a yellow muscle shirt with black sides, leather bands on his upper arms, a small chain on his waist, and silver cuffs on his wrists. "We're calling it into service once again, since you six are determined to stay and fight the good fight. You'll do it on League and Autobot terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary and Arcee oversee training, Ratchet will be your resident medic and physician. Optimus and I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked.

"Yes, but they mostly be covert, there might be the occasional mission against the Decepticons, but for those you will be with an Autobot at all times," Optimus answered.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff; there's a reason we have these targets on our chests," Flash commented.

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter, we'll need a team to operate on the sly," Aquaman said.

"The seven of you will be that team," Batman stated.

"Cool," Robin said. "Wait…seven?"

Optimus motioned behind them, and they saw a red-headed, green-skinned girl, with amber eyes, and wearing a white and feminine version of Manhunter's own uniform walk out next to him. "This is Martian Manhunter's niece: Miss Martian," Optimus introduced.

"I'm liking this gig more every minute," Wally said walking forwards. "Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad; it's cool if you forget their names."

"Ignore my idiot cousin," Erica said shoving him aside. "I'm Emerald Lantern. The dummy there is my cousin Kid Flash as he introduced himself—and the other two he forgot to mention are Bumblebee and Superboy."

"I'm honored to be included," she smiled as they came over. Superboy hung back and crossed his arms. Noticing 'Bee smiled slightly and pulled him over. Before their eyes her shirt changed to one very similar to his. "I like your t-shirt."

-.-

"Can the Light maintain control of Cadmus without the Gnomes?" Vandal Savage asked as they watched Guardian and DoubleX on a monitor.

"We have subtler means of control," Luthor replied. "What concerns me, are the children." An image of the six teens appeared on a screen. "We now know the League is willing to let kids do their dirty work—that's a dark twist."

"But one we can play to our advantage, even the temporary loss of the weapon may prove useful," Megatron smiled. "Eventually, everyone sees the Light."


	5. Activities List

Chapter 4

 **A/N: I just own the story; Erica belongs to my friend—she's not mine!**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 **/comm or text/**

July 7 Autobot Base

"This place is sweet!" Wally said as they sat in the Autobot base.

 _"_ _Yea, we'll be here a lot as well as the cave,"_ Bumblebee said using the text-to-speech app on his phone.

"Do you think we'll get to fight Cons?!" Robin asked.

 _"_ _Don't know, depends on what Dad decides."_

"What are you all still doing here?" Ratchet asked as he walked in. "I thought you'd be gone by now."

"Calm down Doc, we're just hanging out," Erica said.

"Alright, but stay out of the medbay unless you're dying," he snapped walking inside.

"Charming guy," Superboy commented. "His mood always this good?"

 _"_ _This actually is his 'good mood',"_ 'Bee replied.

Ratchet rolled his eyes as he heard the comment. "I swear, one day they'll be the death of me," he muttered going to the microscope to study the goo some more. A soft clang sounded throughout the room, making him look up. "Kids?" No response came, so he went back to work before the sound of scuttling came to him. "Bumblebee Sparkfire Prime, I swear if this is another prank—by the All-Spark!" He jumped back as glowing violet spider-like creature was running at him. Grabbing a crowbar, he swatted it aside. It landed on the wall and jumped onto his work station, slicing apart his microscope. "I needed that!" He fell back as it leapt at him again, but thankfully a shot knocked it down.

Optimus stood there with a smoking blaster, as it began to move again, he slammed his foot down, crushing it. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, but what could've caused that?" Ratchet asked.

"I have a suspicion Ratchet: dark energon," the Prime said gravely.

-.-

Nemesis

Megatron stood in front of the dark energon meteor, trying to figure out it's dark power. "I can feel the power of Chaos Bringer himself; hear his very thoughts," Megatron said calmly reaching in and pulling out another shard. "I now know how to summon my army."

"And what can I do to help Master?" Starscream asked from where he stood off to the side.

"Quit groveling, and await my command," the Dark Lord spat.

"Ah, Soundwave. I fear when our Master reached for the stars, he came back with a little, space madness," Starscream chuckled. "He has not been sound of judgement since he returned. Increase global surveillance."

 _"_ _Quit groveling, and await my command_ ," Soundwave repeated.

"I'm not deaf!" the seeker said. "I'm just looking out for Lord Megatron's best interests. After all, we do need to ensure his enemy's destruction."

The two glanced at each other again, before Soundwave slapped him and went back to work.

-.-

Autobot Base

"If it brought your equipment back to life, then it stands to reason that the same substance brought Cliffjumper back from the dead," Optimus said as they destroyed the creature's remains.

"That would account for his life signal coming back," Ratchet agreed. "But dark energon? It's so scare it's thought to most as non-existent. What would it be doing on Earth?"

"It was transported here, by Megatron."

"For what purpose?"

"To raise an army of the undead," Optimus said gravely.

"Well, he'll need to break quite a few toaster ovens. Where on Earth are there that many Cybertronain dead?" Ratchet scoffed.

 _"_ _Dad?! Ratchet?!"_ Bumblebee called as he skid into the room with the team on hot on his heels. _"_ _We heard gunshots. What happened? Are y'all alright?!"_

"Easy Bumblebee," Optimus said. "There was just an incident with one of Ratchet's experiments, nothing more, nothing less."

 _"_ _Oh…"_

"See, I told you it was nothing," Wally said punching his shoulder. "C'mon! I want to see your car!" The others grabbed the unfortunate teen, and dragged him off.

"Do you think we should tell him?" Ratchet asked, feeling guilty for lying to the kid; they hadn't even told him about Cliff yet. But the youngling was smart, there was no doubt in his mind that he already figured out what happened to their teammate.

"Not yet, not until we're certain," Optimus replied. "Until then he doesn't need to know—neither does anyone else for that matter."

"You know he'll figure out something's up eventually."

"I know." Optimus said going to his comm. "Optimus to Batman, we have a possible lead on Megatron's plan."

/Understood, Flash, Superman, Green Lantern, and I will meet you at your base. Batman out/

"Bumblebee, team, meeting in the main room; Optimus out," He hung up the comm and waited for everyone to enter before speaking. "Arcee, Ratchet and I will be out of communications range for some time with the other members of the League, you're in charge while we're gone," Optimus said as they bridged in.

"With all due respect, Ratchet hasn't been out in the field since the war," she protested.

"I may be a bit rusty, but my hearing's as sharp as ever," he retorted.

"Ratchet, send the bridge."

The group walked through and disappeared, leaving everyone else. "So what's on the activities list?" Wally asked.

Rolling her eyes, Arcee went into a room, and came out in her armor. "I'm going on patrol. Bumblebee, suit up, you're coming with," she said. The mute teen shrugged before going to get in his own armor.

"Optimus said to stay at base," Bulkhead protested.

"When you're in charge, you call the shots," she snapped as 'Bee got in his car. "Let's go!" The two engines revved and tore their way out of the base.

"So…what's on the activities list?" Bulkhead asked as the proximity sensor went off. "Great. Agent Fragger."

"You mean Fowler?" Robin asked.

"Rob, that's not what he's saying. In their language that means something else," Erica said. They all looked at her confused. "It's a curse word."

"Oh…"

"Prime!" Fowler called only to find the superhero teens looking at him. He'd been given the classified info about them and who they were—under the threat of Batman of course—so he wasn't all surprised to find them here. What he was surprised to find was no Prime. "Where is he?"

"On a mission," Bulkhead replied.

"Well tell him and the League that handling the Cons doesn't mean blowing up a mountain here in Earth!"

"The Cons blew it up, not us," Bulkhead said.

"Tell that to my superiors at the Pentagon!" Fowler snapped.

Going to a phone he started to enter a number, when Bulkhead made it go out. "Out of order," he smiled.

"This isn't over bigfoot! Not by a longshot!" the agent snapped before leaving. /Sir, this is Agent Fowler. I'm in route from the Autobot base with the report. I'll brief you in person/

-.-

 _"_ _Sir, this is Agent Fowler. I'm in route from the Autobot base…"_ Soundwave repeated.

"Autobot base huh?" Starscream said eagerly. "Humans. Always the weak link. Retrieve this Fowler, so he may brief us instead."

With a nod, Soundwave went to his own jet and activated the detaching cassette he named after his hawk Lazerbeak. He controlled the cassette as it left for the agent.

"What in Uncle Sam's beard?" Fowler gaped as he saw as Cybertronian craft flying towards his helicopter. Dodging the bird, he made evasive maneuvers as it continued to chase him throughout the canyon. Dropping down at a cliff, Fowler let Lazerbeak pass overhead before he was the one chasing. "So you want to dance? I'll lead." He aimed the gun at the bottom of the copter and started firing.

The bird continued to evade him, and when the rounds did hit, they were deflected of the armor. Seeing that he ran out of bullets, Soundwave circled his cassette back above the chopper, and made it dive down, slicing the tail off.

"Where's an Autobot when you need one?" he growled trying to regain control and slow his decent. Two tentacles broke through the glass and grabbed the agent, but not before he pressed the distress signal. Having his prize, Lazerbeak dropped the chopper, allowing it to explode on the ground below, before he carried his quarry off.

-.-

Badlands

The group tread their way through the maze of canyons cautiously. "What are we doing here?" Superman asked.

"We're heading for the largest Cybertronian battlefield in this sector of the galaxy," the Prime answered.

"Here? On Earth?" Ratchet scoffed.

"Ratchet. Do you recall the period late in the war, when both sides started hiding their energon stores off world?"

"Of course, it's the only reason deposits exist here," the doctor said as the others found themselves lost in the conversation.

"It is also the reason battles came to be waged on planets such as this one," Optimus sighed. "And I fear I'm not the only one who remembers this particular battlefield."

-.-

Autobot Base

"Make it shut up!" Superboy growled holding his hands over his sensitive ears as the alarm went off.

Bulkhead hesitantly pressed a button and the alarm shut off. "It's an SOS…from Fowler," the ex-Wrecker said as he read the coordinates.

"Did you trace it?" Robin asked.

"Location scan was incomplete. Oh well."

"Oh well?" Wally gaped. "Seriously?"

"He's a jerk."

"Whoa, time out, weather the guy's a jerk or not the Decepticons could have him," Erica said.

"And he knows your location—our location," M'gann whimpered.

"And did we not just witness how fast he backs down from Cybertronians?" Robin pointed out. "The 'Cons will make him squeal!"

"But the scan was incomplete! And I can't pick up trace signals like Arcee or Bumblebee," Bulkhead said.

"Let me have a go," Robin said typing away on the monitor. "A few years ago, the government started microchipping their agents; like owners do with pets. Once I get in I can track his position."

"Well then get to it!" KF encouraged.

-.-

Nemesis

Fowler grunted as the vehicon tossed him to the floor at the feet of a man in six-inch heels. "Welcome Agent Fowler," Starscream sneered.

"Treat all your guests this nicely?" he replied sarcastically.

"Any friend of the Autobots."

"Autobots? Is that one of the coin operated wash my own car places?" Fowler asked.

"So that's how it's going to be?" Starscream growled and slapped him into a wall. "Apparently no one told you I have no appreciation for human humor. Make our guest…comfortable."

-.-

Autobot Base

"Got it!" Robin said typing in the coordinates and activating the groundbridge.

"Wait here," Bulkhead ordered as he came out in his armor.

"What? We're trained!" Emerald Lantern protested.

"Not against Decepticons you're not," Bulkhead replied as he got in his truck. "Uh…Aqualad! You're in charge!" Slamming the door, he sped through the bridge.

"Guess we six have the run of the place…Robin? Emerald? Kid Flash?" Aqualad asked looking around for the three only to find them gone.

-.-

Unknown location

"Fowler?" Bulkhead asked as he came through the bridge. Looking around he hid behind a rock as he spotted the Nemesis. And the guards walking around outside of it. "Great. The whole Decepticon shebang."

"What's the plan?" KF called.

"Kids!" Bulkhead hissed as a soldier pointed their blaster at them.

"You're an idiot!" Emerald shouted as they dodged the blast and ran behind another rock.

The soldier was about to pursue when Bulkhead tackled them. The teens watched the fight eagerly. Seeing Bulkhead pin the Con down, Emerald tried to help, but the guys grabbed her as they saw him get back up and start pushing against him.

"Kids! Look away!"

"But—!"

"Turn you heads away!" Bulkhead ordered before he slammed his fist through the weak point of the vehicon's armor and crushed the soldier inside, causing blue energon to spurt out staining the ground below.

-.-

/Bulkhead to Arcee, we have a situation here/

"Bulk, their children. It can't be that hard to entertain them," she scoffed as they drove. He said something else making both on patrol slam on their brakes. "You're _where_?! They're _where_?!"

"'Bee pedal to the metal," she commanded as they both sped back.

-.-

Autobot Base

"Bulkhead might not even know that they fallowed him!" Miss Martain said worriedly.

"I've seen the 'Cons in action once, and I know that Emerald, Robin, and Kid have not. Even when I saw them I was not allowed to engage," Aqualad replied going to the monitor. "They do not know what they're getting into." He pressed a button, hoping it was the right one. Thankfully, it was. "Seems their coordinates are still locked in, which means…" He pressed another button and the bridge activated. "Superboy come with! Miss Martian! You're in charge!"

"Of what?!" she called flying after.

-.-

Nemesis

Fowler hung from chains wrapping around his arms as Starscream circled him hungrily. "All you have to do is answer one question to save your family the pain of grieving: Where is the location of the Autobot base?"

"Yes, on one condition."

"Yes?"

Fowler smirked slightly. "I'm having an issue with the customer service here. Can I speak to the man in charge?"

Starscream growled in fury. "I make the decisions here! I AM IN CHARGE!" he howled. "Bring the prod."

-.-

"What's taking them?" Bulkhead grumbled as they hid and waited for back-up.

"Dude! They could be getting the intel right now! We need to storm it!" KF exclaimed.

"Finally," the former Wrecker sighed as the bridge opened. But instead of his fellow Autobots, out came the rest of the team.

"HAULT!" several solders shouted pointing their guns at them.

"Scrap."

-.-

"I will ask nicely one last time! The Autobot base?! Where is it?" Starscream demanded.

"Sure thing, after you kiss my aft!" Fowler declared.

Smirking, Starscream pulled out an energon prod and shocked the agent. "As I imagined, energon and human nervous systems don't mix."

-.-

Badlands

The members of the League stared in shock at the field of the dead before them, at least a hundred dead Cybertronians. "For once in my life Optimus, I hopped you were wrong," Ratchet said.

They all looked up to see a Cybertronain jet fly over before landing on a cliff above, and Megatron stepped out looking down at them with a grin. What disturbed them was how his once red eyes were glowing violet. "Optimus, been well?" the man sneered. "I see you brought your weak allies…and your trusty watchdog. And here I thought he was in a scrapyard by now."

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Ratchet growled releasing the swords in his armor.

"We know why you're here Megatron," Optimus growled.

"As I would expect. After all Prime, we've been at this for a long time," he said pulling out the shard. "But now your time has come to an end!" he hurled the shard into the ground below, and violet cracks spread over the ground, making the League back up. "RISE MY ARMY!"

"Dear God," Superman whispered as they watched the dead bodies glow and rise, all releasing unnatural sounds as they lumbered in their direction.

"BEHOLD THE POWER OF DARK ENERGON!" Megatron shouted as his eyes became solid purple except for his white pupils and a glow rolled off his form.


	6. Discovering Plans

Chapter 5

 **A/N: I own nothing. HAPPY 4** **TH** **OF JULY PEOPLE!**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

July 7 Badlands

"Megatron has desecrated the graves of our people. Our soldiers and his own," Ratchet snarled.

"Not even the dead is safe from him," Batman agreed.

"At last, perfect control," Megatron chuckled. "I now possess the power of the Dark Primes. Now…DESTROY THEM!"

Optimus began shooting at the creatures as they approached. The others were using their own abilities and weapons. Batman hurled a variety of bat-a-rangs at them, some exploded, some froze them, and a whole other assortment of things. Green Lantern and Superman flew above; Lantern used his ring to create a machine gun to shoot them down as Superman used his ice breath and heat vision to decimate their ranks.

Or at least it should've, but the zombies just kept on coming.

"Anyone have any ideas on how to defeat the undead?" Flash asked as they got closer.

"Ratchet fall back," Optimus ordered.

"No, you all may need a medic after this," he replied charging the zombies and beginning to slice them apart with his swords. Flash fallowed suit, ripping a weapon out of one and he started helping hack them up. They noticed that once the parts got to a certain size they stopped moving.

"Cut them into smaller pieces!" Flash called as he ran past handing Batman a sword. He looked up to see Superman incinerating some, and GL crushing more with a giant hammer. "Keep doing what you're doing!"

Optimus too exchanged his guns for his swords, but unfortunately that meant they had to get up close and personal with the undead beings.

"I've mastered dark energon and once…" Megatron trailed off as he felt something through the dark energon in his body. "Well, well, a Dark Prime still lives. I was planning on having you join my army, but now, I'll give him your undead corpse as a gift. One cannot have too many like-minded allies."

Optimus narrowed his eyes at that statement and gave a low growl.

-.-

Nemesis

Bulkhead grabbed the kids and shoved them behind a rock with the other stowaways. "This time, please stay here!" he said before rushing back out. They watched as he dodged shots, and jumped high enough up the cliff face to almost make Superboy jealous. He climbed up till he was level with one of the ship's spikes, and hopped onto it.

A vehicon came over checking for him, grabbing his leg, Bulkhead tossed it off the side. Killing another, he used its corpse to be a shield as he fought the others on the roof. Dropping it he jumped down onto another, with his wrecking ball. Looking towards the kids, he frowned when he only spotted one missing.

"Where's Superboy?!" he called. He saw a body move, and Superboy stood up from under it, looking a little green. "You threw it at me," he said, before doubling over and heaving.

Behind him, a hatch opened and two more emerged. Seeing a satellite dish, Bulkhead grabbed it and threw it over the puking teen, knocking both men off the ship. Picking up Superboy, Bulkhead jumped inside the ship.

"Think they forgot about us?" Wally asked hopefully. At that moment, several soldiers came up behind them and grabbed them.

"Nope!"

Inside two vehicons turned a corner as Bulkhead ran up with Superboy trailing behind him, now feeling a bit better. Seeing them the two super strengthed men took them out before they kept going.

In another all the rest of the team was being dragged by vehicons that captured them. "We'll take them to the brig. That's where Commander Starscream is keeping the other one," one said.

The sound of two engines filled the hallway, and they saw Arcee's motorcycle and Bumblebee's Camaro tearing towards them. Arcee transformed and snatched the teens out of the way as Bumblebee slammed his car into them. He too stepped out before his also transformed and stood behind him.

 _"_ _What are y'all doing here?"_

"While we do appreciate the cleared front door; storming the Decepticon base was not on the activities list," Arcee scolded.

"Tell us about it," Aqualad sighed.

The robots turned back into their vehicle forms, and Arcee pointed at them. "Hop on." The team discovered that Cybertronians we're not just very strong and technopathic, but they also were very fast, considering Arcee and Bumblebee were keeping up with their speeding vehicles. They came to a halt at a corner and Arcee turned with her weapon to see Bulkhead and Superboy. "Friendlies!"

"Hey 'Cee," Bulkhead greeted the unamused pair.

 _"_ _Just why did you bring them?"_ 'Bee scolded pointing to his new teammates.

"They snuck along!" Bulkhead said before he could explain more vehicons rounded the corner.

Down in the brig, Starscream was steadily breaking Fowler. "Agent Fowler, can't you see? The Autobots have abandoned you. I am the only one you can trust now," Starscream said holding out the prod.

"Wait…please…no more…they're in a secret government base…" he wheezed.

"Go on."

He was about to, when he heard the firing of guns. "In the old steel mill…or was it that carnival funhouse?"

Starscream screamed out in frustration and gave the agent an extra-long shock for his insolence. "Someone find out what's going on out there!" he demanded once Fowler passed out.

Out in the hall the team did what they could to help, but found they were way in over their heads. While they were used to carnage in violence—in most of their cases—even they had trouble dealing with the sheer brutality of warfare. Arcee used the blades on her arms to decapitate several Cons, and used her acrobatic skills to take out a few others. Bumblebee mostly shot at them, but even they soon learned he knew how to kill someone in over twenty different ways with his hands alone. Bulkhead was downright terrifying to watch; he just ripped his way through them—literally—his wrecking ball crushed a few, and he removed the limbs of others before finishing them off.

"What did we get ourselves into?" Kid Flash whispered, not excited to fight for once in his life.

-.-

Badlands

Everyone fighting against the zombies was panting in absolute exhaustion. Superman and Green Lantern had to land a while ago due to it, Flash was slowing down, and even Batman was losing his edge.

"This prolonged exposure to the dark energon is sapping our strength," Ratchet explained as they all stood back-to-back.

"We cannot falter now," Optimus said charging out. A horde came after him, and basically dog-piled on top of the Prime.

Seeing this the others moved to help before they too were caught in the same situation. Watching them Megatron laughed as he stood on the cliff.

Batman and Optimus were the first to break out of the hordes holding them down. Batman managed to slide out, and make the ones restraining him explode, while Optimus just literally threw all his off. A moment later, Superman froze his and burst out, fallowed swiftly by GL making and exploding dome with his ring. As the two flyers went to keep them at bay, Batman and Prime fought the beasts off Ratchet and Flash vibrated through his.

"Still at the top of your game, huh Optimus?" Megatron teased. "MY LEGION! FINISH THEM!"

The six Leaguers stood in a line before charging through the front with renewed effort.

-.-

Nemesis

A vehicon walked towards the bridge door where someone was knocking. Opening it he was killed as Arcee and Bumblebee burst in, making short work of the soldiers. "Stay here," Arcee said looking at the team.

"We can help!" Superboy protested.

"Sorry kiddo, but you're just slowing us down right now. And we know how things work here better then you," Arcee replied coldly.

 _"_ _Just listen to her, and please stay here,"_ Bumblebee said as he and Bulkhead pursued the woman.

"This is insane," Emerald sighed sitting against a wall.

"You're the one who got us into this!" Superboy snapped.

"We didn't ask you to fallow us!" KF snapped back.

"Maybe we have some regard for your safety!" Aqualad replied.

"I'm sorry. Is your name Batman, or Optimus?" Robin growled. "I'll leave the decisions on missions to them!"

"JUST STOP!" Miss Martian shouted flying over to a step and sitting down on it crying.

"Sorry Miss M," KF said sitting next to her.

"I just can't stand you all arguing while our friends are out there risking their lives for the sake of one," she wept. "I overheard Uncle J'ohn mention that an Autobot was killed recently."

"Which one? They all look there to me?" Superboy said as the others' eyes went wide in realization.

"Cliffjumper?" Wally gasped.

"He-He's dead?" Robin stuttered.

Miss Martian nodded. "They said he was tortured—mutated, may be more of the word for it—by the Cons before they executed him."

They all sat in a stunned silence, all who knew the talkative man remembered the last time they saw him. Robin, Erica, and Wally saw him last when they were out of uniform running around Disneyworld, because it was Robin's birthday and he invited the Autobots to join in the fun. Kaldur last saw him after a mission with Aquaman when he was in his day job as a reporter. Superboy and M'gann didn't know him, yet they felt saddened by his demise, it sounded like he was someone they would've liked to meet.

"Hey Robin…what do you make of that?" Superboy said looking up at a screen.

They all fallowed his gaze and saw a diagram on the screen. "It's important; really important," the Boy Wonder smirked.

"You can read it?" M'gann asked.

"No, but I know math when I see it. And that's one pit of an equation," Robin said connecting to the mainframe to download it.

"Dude, you may want to hurry," Emerald said as a vehicon entered the room. He spotted the other dead vehicon and looked around. Spotting the group, a rather large blaster was pointed at them.

-.-

Starscream was quickly losing his patience as the sounds of fighting got closer. "Wake up you pathetic creature!"

"Grandma? Is it cookie time?" Fowler said before passing out again.

A knock sounded as the door, opening it, a dead vehicon fell, and the one in the same room was shot and killed. Upon seeing the Wrecker, Starscream aimed his weapon at the human.

"I wouldn't," Arcee said pointing to her robot over him aiming a blaster at him, and Bumblebee's right behind him.

They stood in a standoff for several moments. "Now, Agent Fowler and I will take our leave," Starscream said.

"The emu says: yahh!" Fowler said randomly distracting the Vosian. Seeing his distraction, they fired, forcing him away from the agent. Activating his jetpack, he flew over their heads and down the hall.

-.-

Superboy was the first to move. Leaping at the man he punched him in the face, sending him skidding back. He charged the clone only to be hit by a giant green hammer from the side, sending him into Aqualad's waiting fist. They hit him towards Miss Martian, who then used her telekinesis to slam him repeatedly into a wall where he collapsed.

Once he finished downloading the file, Robin and KF ran over with grins. "Sweet! We just took out a 'Con! And retrieved valuable intel!" KF said high fiving his cousin.

"But we better get out of here before sleeping beauty there wakes up," Robin said.

They ran into the hall, nearly getting run over by Bumblebee in the process. _"_ _Get in!"_ Those who couldn't fly or run at the speed of sound fallowed his command. Once they were inside the group sped down the halls.

"Can we stop for pie?" Fowler asked.

"You found Fowler!" Aqualad said in relief.

"What's wrong with him? He seems a little loopy," Robin asked.

 _"_ _Starscream. He hit him with an electric energon prod one too many times. And energon plus human biology does not end well. Ratchet's going to have to check him over once we get back to base,"_ Bumblebee explained.

-.-

Badlands

They all sighed in relief as Superman managed to incinerate the last ones. Hearing clapping, they looked up to see Megatron. "Bravo, Optimus. You and your lackeys seem to fare just fine. But do save your strength for the main event. This is just a prelude for what I have planned."

"Not while energon still flows through my veins," Optimus said as he started climbing the cliff.

"Fitting, because it is now dark energon which flows through mine," Megatron laughed as his violet eyes flashed. "I'm just like a Dark Prime now aren't I? And once I find the other, we will destroy the Primes once and for all!"

Optimus got to the top and lunged at him, but the warlord just leapt back into his jet and flew off. After a few moments, the others joined him at the top watching his disappear. "If this was not Megatron's endgame; what is?" Batman asked.

-.-

July 7 Autobot Base

Optimus finished fitting Ratchet's brace onto the medic's arm, and went over to check the wounds of the others—which thankfully weren't serious.

"What happened out there?" Robin asked from where he sat.

"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors," Batman answered.

"Zombies? You fought zombies and we missed it?!" Wally said in shock.

"Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgement in allowing the team to accompany you," Optimus said.

"It won't happen again sir, promise."

"But it wasn't his fault," Erica said.

"Yea, we were the ones that snuck after him," Wally defended.

"And check this out," Robin said pulling up the data on his holo-glove.

"Ratchet, take a look," Prime said. "It could play a part in Megatron's endgame."

"Wait, Megatron's back?" Aqualad asked as the medic put the data onto his monitor. "That's bad, right?"

"Very," Flash said eating more food.

"Optimus!" Ratchet called from where he was typing. "These are the calculations for a Space-Time Vortex Generator."

"Megatron's building a Space Bridge?" Superman asked.

"Good, the sooner he leaves the better," Green Lantern said.

"Space Bridges run in two directions, Megatron may not be using it to leave Earth, but to bring through his army," Batman said.

"The main event he mentioned," Flash stated. "But where would he get that many undead Cybertonians?"

"Cybertron."

-.-

Nemesis

"Lord Megatron! I swear, I meant no disrespect!" Starscream pleaded with the enraged tyrant.

"I TOLD YOU TO AWAIT MY COMMAND! INSTEAD YOUR FOOLISH ACTIONS RESULTED IN THE DAMAGE OF MY WARSHIP AND THE DELAY OF MY PLANS!" Megatron shouted hurled Starscream across the room.

"My intentions were pure! I only want you to be rid of Optimus," he begged.

"NO ONE RIDS ME OF OPTIMUS BUT ME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" he snarled slamming his foot on the SIC's head and he started applying pressure. "DO YOU?!"

"Lord Megatron, I understand, and know how to set your plans back on course!"

The foot was removed from his head, but the relief was short-lived as a hand wrapped around his throat. "Explain Starscream, quickly. Or I'll be finding a new Second in Command."


	7. Dead Rising

Chapter 6

 **A/N: I just own this story, not the OC used in it, and not the characters.**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 **/comm or text/**

July 8, Autobot Base

"We cannot allow Megatron to succeed in his plan. If we fail, the dead of Cybertron will rise, swarm through the bridge, and invade Earth. Bending your entire planet to Megatron's twisted rule," Optimus explained.

"Got it!" Robin said as he and Ratchet finally pinpointed the Spacebridge.

"Scrap, it's on the edges of Earth's orbit, just out of our groundbridge's reach. If we try it could snap and scatter us to the stars" Ratchet grumbled.

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Optimus said. "Reaching the spacebridge first is our only means of stopping Megatron."

"Both Lanterns will meet you there. Not you Emerald," Batman said as the girl pumped her fist in the air. "Superman and Manhunter will be fallowing shortly after."

"Understood," Optimus replied as the bridge activated. "Autobots activate your out of atmosphere systems."

"Don't even think about fallowing," Bulkhead scolded the smiling teens as he got into his truck.

"Optimus, if you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans, I will never forgive you," Ratchet growled.

"Until we meet again old friend," Optimus said with a slight smirk as he got into his semi. "Autobots, roll out!" They shot through the bridge, once they saw the bridge, they transformed the cars around them, creating protective exo-suits. Gravitizing to the spacebridge, they looked to see the Nemesis heading for them.

"So the 'Cons are packing enough dark energon to raise Cybertron's dead?"

"And since we don't have the means to disable the bridge at the present moment. Nothing gets in or out," Prime replied.

On the bridge of the Nemesis, a monitor zoomed in on several figures standing on the Space Bridge. "Optimus never disappoints, unlike you Starscream," Megatron snapped.

"Don't worry Lord Megatron. Soundwave is locking onto Cybertron's coordinates—per my instructions," Starscream replied.

"What are they waiting for?" Green Lantern asked as they flew in next to them.

Bumblebee adjiusted his optics and zoomed in, noticing damage to the navigation dish. _"_ _They've sustained damage to their interstellar navigation system."_

"Huh? That's my handiwork," Bulkhead said.

"Excellent work Bulkhead without that dish they will not be able to aim the bridge at Cybertron," Optimus said.

/Don't the Cons know where their own planet is?/ KF asked from where the team and a few other League members sat listening to them.

/Naturally, but Cybertron is many lightyears away, to hit it their aim must be astronomically precise/ Ratchet supplied.

"Well if tall, dark, and ugly came all the way out here, he must have an alternate targeting system, a remote one perhaps?" Hal suggested.

/I doubt there's a single radio-telescope dish on this planet powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron/ Ratchet scoffed.

/What about a whole field full?/ Robin asked. /Like the giant size array in Texas?/

"Good thinking Robin," Optimus said. "Ratchet, have Agent Fowler warn the array staff of the danger."

-.-

Base

Everyone turned to look at the agent who started sitting up. "You! Soldier! You're out of uniform! Put on some pants!" the agent exclaimed before passing out again.

"That may prove to be a challenge," Ratchet commented.

Robin began typing vigorously before he growled and slammed his hands down. "Whoever came up with this system is good, becacause I can't get pass their firewalls!"

"You think you could keep them out?"

"If I could get in," he grumbled.

"What if you were inside, like inside the building?" Aqualad asked.

"I could get on the network on the inside of the firewall," he answered.

/It is out of the question. The Decepticons may be on site/ Optimus said stubbornly.

"It's not just our safety at stake, but the safety of everyone on this planet," KF reasoned.

"You have to let us try," Emerald agreed.

/…Fine…/

They ran through the groundbridge, hopping out on the inside of a fence. The teens ran towards the facility, ready to mess with some Cons.

Going to a room, occasionally one would peek out into the hall as Robin hacked the system. "I'm in," he grinned before it went away. "And so are the Decepticons."

"What? How?" M'gann asked hovering over him.

"Schematics," he answered. "They're synching the bridge to the dishes, but I can synch to them."

"Will they know?" Superboy asked.

"Even if they see that I'm in the system, they won't know I'm in the house," Robin chuckled.

"Besides, they're probably like a few hundred miles away," Emerald smirked.

Just in the room right next to them, Soundwave was in his vehicle armor, attached to the mainframe aiming the dishes.

-.-

Space

"Clearly the Autobots are…up to something," Starscream said stupidly.

Megatron turned towards his SIC with an eye roll. "Really Starscream?" he asked with a heavy layer of sarcasm in his voice. Whirling around he slammed his fist onto the intercom. "CRUSH THEM!"

Almost immediately dozens of armored vehicons flew out of the ship towards the spacebridge firing at them. "Here's our welcoming committee," Bulkhead said.

They managed to shoot a few out of the space, but those that did land, didn't last long. They were either thrown into others after having the scrap beaten out of them. As they fought, they nearly lost their balance as the spacebridge began moving.

"What's going on?" Green Lantern asked.

"The Decepticons are locking onto Cybertron," Optimus answered grimly.

"Lord Megatron! The spacebridge is ready for activation!" Starscream said.

"Finally!"

-.-

"Oh no you don't," Robin smirked pressing a button.

-.-

They stumbled again as the bridge changed directions. _"_ _Good going Rob!"_ 'Bee cheered.

"Starscream?! What's going on?!" the Warmonger snarled.

"I…uh…Soundwave! What's going on?!"

-.-

Down on Earth, Soundwave didn't answer as he filtered through the security feeds of the facility having already deterred outside hackers. Stopping on one room, he saw the group of teens.

"The dishes are going back, but not for long," Robin snickered.

Soundwave hopped out of his robot, which he kept linked to the mainframe, just in case he had to switch the coordinates again.

"What will they do when they realize what's going on?" Aqualad asked.

"It's only virtual warfare," Kid said. "And besides, like Em said, they're like a bajillion miles away."

No one noticed the door slowly open, and Soundwave step into it. Tentacles uncoiled from his armor and arched back, prepared to strike.

Hearing something Superboy turned only to cry out as the Con without a face slammed him aside. Aqualad and Emerald grabbed onto one, as KF and Superboy grabbed another. The Class A technopath merely hurled them around the room. Miss Martian tried to do a mental attack, but screamed as the more powerful telepath attacked her with his own. She collapsed on the ground unconscious.

"Miss Martain!" Aqualad called rushing over to her. As a result, the tentacle he released hurled Kid into the other two restraining the second. Robin was forced to jump out of the way as one nearly took him out, and the other demolished the computer he was using. Kid Flash grabbed an ax of the wall and charged the silent Con, only to be knocked aside again. A much larger tentacle came in and picked up the ax, as they all glared at their teammate for giving it the weapon.

"YOU GAVE HIM AN AX?!" Erica screamed at her cousin.

Much to their surprise Soundwave walked away, as the tentacle retreated. He locked onto Cybertron again, and used the ax to cut the hardline.

They ran in in time to see Soundwave back in his robot on the roof. The mech looked down at them, and Emerald snapped a picture. Much to their surprise—or horror—the Decepticon did the exact same before transforming and flying off. Robin walked over to the ax and sighed in defeat. "He cut the hardline. Now the dishes are locked onto Cybertron…permanently," he said.

Wally walked over and picked up the weapon. "Souvenir?"

-.-

Space

"Now Starscream?" Megatron sneered.

"Now." The SIC pressed the on button and the giant bridge activated.

Megatron emerged from the ship with the meteor on his back. "At last!" he said hurling the rock through the bridge, despite the Bot's best efforts to shoot it off course. Megatron glowed as the undead awakened. "ARISE MY LEGION!"

 _"_ _Well this sucks,"_ 'Bee stated.

"You said it," GL said.

"Just how do we beat a whole planet of undead Cybertronians?" Superman asked as he finally flew up with Martian Manhunter, both had oxygen masks over their faces.

/Optimus, there is a large mass enter their spacebridge, one with a familiar signature/ Ratchet said grimly.

"Dark energon, Ratchet, we must destroy the spacebridge. There's enough live energon flowing through it to achieve detonation. But we lack the firepower to ignite it," Optimus said.

"What about my heat vision?" Superman asked.

"Even that is not strong enough to ignite this much moving energon," Arcee said.

/If I knew how it was engineered I could find a technical way of accomplishing that feat/

/Would schematics help?/ Robin asked.

/Optimus, I must ask. That is our only way to return to Cybertron. Are you certain?/ the medic asked.

"I am afraid so."

/Then by all means, let's light our darkest hour!/

Optimus turned towards the others. "Autobots, take your positions and fallow Ratchet's lead. "Green Lantern, Superman keep anything from getting out through that portal. Martian Manhunter, accompany my team, and help where you can," Optimus commanded.

Megatron landed in his battle suit in front of them, and both GL and Superman flew above the colossal titans. "I must say Optimus, your men know when to retreat," the warlord sneered.

"I have no illusions about facing your army. But I might derail its objective, by removing its head," Prime growled unsheathing his swords.

Megatron laughed darkly as he unsheathed his own blade. "Highly unlikely Optimus, as I am infused with the very might of your greatest enemy!"

"One shall stand. One shall fall," Optimus said.

The two charged each other with battle cries, colliding with excessive force. Optimus managed to knock Megatron back and they continued their battle as Superman and the Green Lanterns looked between themselves and the humongous swarm of zombies coming at them. Looking down they saw Megatron slice at the Prime's abdominal plating, before slicing through one of his swords, and punching him back. as he was in the air, the former gladiator caught the Prime's leg, slammed him into the ground, and hurled him half-way across the bridge.

"We're gonna die," GL said.

"Be positive!" Superman snapped.

"I'M POSITIVE WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"…That's not what I meant."

"Ratchet we're ready," Arcee said as they reached the controls.

/Pay close attention/

Megaton slowly walked over, tracing the edges of his sword, getting to Optimus he raised his blade for the finishing blow. /Master?/ Starscream questioned stopping him.

"What?!"

/I don't wish to question your all-seeing wisdom, but I believe they're up to something again. Beneath your bridge this time/ the SIC replied.

"Ah…misdirection. You would've made a fine Decepticon," he said swinging down.

Optimus blocked the blade and flung it back. "I chose my side." Switching the servo for a gun he shot the tyrant back, and Megatron transformed, heading for the others.

"Starscream, my army approaches, rendezvous with the spacebridge ready for pick-up," Megatron commanded.

/Fallow the flow line from the energon regulator to the valve, there should be a switch/

"I see it," Arcee said. A lever rose out and she grabbed it.

/Good, now all you need to do is reverse the current/

After a little effort on her part, she managed to flip the switch. "Current reversed."

/I'll ready the groundbridge/

Spotting Megatron they began shooting. He dodged the attacks and fired back, managing to hit Arcee.

Up on top, Optimus, Superman, and the GLs were running/flying away as the bridge began to collapse inward. Megatron flew past them, back into it. "STARSCREAM! WHERE IS MY SHIP?!"

/WE WOULD NEVER MAKE IT LORD MEGATRON! DON'T BE A FOOL! TAKE FLIGHT AND RETREAT!/ the SIC shouted.

/Optimus the groundbridge is ready and waiting/ Ratchet informed.

Optimus, Superman, and the GLs went from where they were into the bridge. Bulkhead and Manhunter came from their own direction. Meanwhile, Bumblebee split off and grabbed Arcee before leaping through the closing bridge.

Megatron floated up to the bridge, he could see his undead army just on the other side, reaching out for him. Around him the bridge began the final imploding process. "No…" he whispered reaching out they almost touched before it exploded.

"Decepticons! It is with deep sorrows, that I note for the log, Megatron's spark has been extinguished…All hail Starscream."

-.-

Autobot Base

They all sat anxiously, waiting for them to emerge. Superman flew through the portal, going so fast he crashed into a wall. Both GLs fallowed, but barely managed to save themselves from the same fate. Optimus and Manhunter then came out, both easily landing on the ground. Optimus transformed and got out, only having a few scrapes compared to the many gashes of his armor. Bulkhead then drove out, stepping out he was quickly hugged by KF and got smiles from Superboy and Aqualad. Bumblebee came out in a sprint holding Arcee. He transformed her first, allowing Ratchet to take her to the medbay, before transforming and stepping out himself.

"We lost one this week, Primus don't let it be two," Ratchet said as he began stabilizing her. KF and Robin put hands on Emerald's shoulder's and the other guys comforted M'gann.

Arcee groaned and lifted her head. "Don't worry, it's just a flesh wound," she smiled lightly. Ratchet sighed, if she was joking it wasn't that bad.

"And Megatron?" Batman asked.

"Not even he could've survived ground zero," Optimus replied.

"I didn't get to thank y'all for the save, I owe ya one," Fowler said as he stood in the elevator. "We all do."

 _"_ _Without a means of leaving this world. We Autobots take strength in the bonds we have forged while here; true warriors. If not in body, then in spirit. My name is Optimus Prime, and I send this message: Though we did not choose to be of Earth, it seems we are here to stay. If you approach this planet with hostile intent, know this: we will defend ourselves, we will defend humanity, we will defend our home."_


	8. Happy Harbor

Chapter 7

 **A/N: Erica is not mine, she's my friend's OC. And I do not own YJ or TFP; just this story.**

 **/text or comm/**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 ** _Telepathy_**

July 10 Star City

Men were unloading illegal weapons from a crate late at night. As they did an arrow landed next to them and released a gas knocking them out. A gun skid towards a rather large man in a suit, stomping down the pistol was knocked up into his hand. Aiming upwards, he saw Speedy looking down at him. "You again! I'm starting to get insulted that Green Arrow's not handling my operations personally!" he sneered shooting thermal blasts at the archer. Speedy weaved his way through the shots, not even getting singed by the explosions. Firing an arrow ha jammed the pistol just as it fired. The blast went back, burning away the man's shirt. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I PAY FOR A SUIT IN MY SIZE?! Scorch the earth boys," he commanded.

Just then a yellow and red blur ran past, taking out one guy, as two bat-a-rangs took out the guns of two more. Above them Robin cackled as he flew over. They were about to run when one was slammed back by a green mace, and the other struck by a black and yellow shadow. The bigger man hurled rocks at Roy, but Aqualad jumped down in the way and sliced it in half with his sword.

"The cave is perfect," Aqualad said. "It has everything we need."

"For covert missions," Robin said as he and Emerald appeared. "Spy stuff!"

"And wait till you meet Superboy and Miss Martain! But I saw her first!" Kid Flash said running up.

The man hurled another rock, but Bumblebee jumped through it and landed next to them.

Emerald knocked him back with rock of her own. Getting to his feet the man laughed. "Tell Arrow he shouldn't send children to do a man's job," he sneered standing up leaving himself open for the arrow Speedy was aiming at him. "Go ahead."

Speedy fired and he was promptly covered in a thick foam-like substance that solidified. "High density polyurethane foam, nice," Emerald smiled.

 _"_ _So Speedy, you in?"_ 'Bee asked.

"Pass, I'm done letting the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse to hang out with the other kids! Your Jr Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy, and in your place!" he snarled.

"You'll missout on missions against the Decpticons," Emerald taunted.

"Please, as if the League would let you fight Cons," he scoffed.

"We already have," Robin grinned.

"Yea, we've stormed the Nemesis, and fought Soundwave!" Wally grinned.

"And I'm guess you snuck along?"

"Well for the fist one…"

"Just as I thought, I don't want any part in it," Roy growled walking off into the shadows.

 _"_ _That went well."_

-.-

July 11 Mount Justice

"Recognized _:_ Robin—B01, Kid Flash—B03, Emerald Lantern—B02, Bumblebee—B06," the computer announced as the group Zetaed in dressed in their civvies.

 _"_ _Man, now I know how y'all feel in the groundbridge,"_ Bumblebee said clutching his stomach. _"…_ _Hey, ya think I could change my number to B00?"_

"Ha, ha 'Bee," Erica said laughing sarcastically. "Very funny."

"Did you ask him?" Robin asked.

"What did he say?" Wally continued.

"He's arriving now," Aqualad responded.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Wally shouted as he sprinted off, leaving the others to chase after. They arrived at the forest entrance as Red Tornado landed outside. "Red Tornado!"

"Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?" the android inquired.

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Aqualad answered.

"Missions are Batman's and Prime's responsibilities," he replied.

"But they haven't given us anything!" Erica said.

"You will be tested soon enough. For the time being, enjoy each other's company."

 _"_ _This isn't a social club."_

"No, but Prime told me social interaction is an important team building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the cave," he said walking past.

"Keep busy," KF scoffed.

"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin asked.

"Oh! I'll find out!" Miss Martain said trying to read his mind.

 _"_ _Uhh…Miss M, he's an android_ ," 'Bee reminded.

"Hello Megan!" she said slapping her forehead. "I can't read the minds of machines."

 _"_ _Technically it's a processor."_

"So…do you know what I'm thinking right now?" the speedster asked only to get elbowed by Robin and his cousin.

"We all know what you're thinking right now," Erica scolded.

"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad spat.

"Well, Superboy and I live here, we can be tour guides," Miss Martain offered.

"Don't look at me," Superboy said raising his hands.

 _"_ _I already downloaded the schematics, so can I go?"_

"No! You can help!" she said grabbing the young Autobot's arm.

 _"_ _No thanks!"_

"Besides, a private tour sound much more fun," Wally said.

"She never said private!" Robin and Erica said smacking his head.

"Team building, we'll all go," Aqualad said.

"So this is our front door," she began. As they walked through the cave she explained everything, until they reached the beach entrance. "And this would be the back. The cave is actually the inside of the entire mountain."

"It was hallowed out by GL and Superman in the League's early days," Erica said as they went back inside.

"So why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked.

 _"_ _The base's confidential location was compromised,"_ Bumblebee stated.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yea, that makes sense," he grumbled.

"If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert!" M'gann realized.

"The bad guys know we know they know about the place so they'd never think to look here," Robin said taking her hand.

"What he means is, we're hiding in plain sight," Em said separating their hands.

"Ah…that's much clearer."

"I smell smoke," Superboy commented.

"MY COOKIES!" the Martian girl exclaimed flying off. Going up to the living room they saw her pulling out a tray of seared cookies onto the counter. "I was trying out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode 17 of—oh, never mind."

"I bet they would've tasted great," Robin smiled.

"Yea, he doesn't seem to mind," Erica said looking at KF

"Um…I have a fast metabolism," he said knowing that his excuse sucked.

"I'll…make more?" the telepath questioned slightly.

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad said.

"Thanks Aqualad."

"We're off duty, call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally. See I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Sunglasses over there. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name," the Speedster teased. "Ow!"

"Sorry about my idiot cousin," Emerald chuckled. "I'm Erica."

 _"_ _Bumblebee is my real name, but due to the fact it is an unusual name on Earth I've decided to go by Brandon,"_ he smiled shyly. _"_ _Just call me whichever works better for you."_

"Me too!" Miss M smiled. "My real name is M'gann M'ortz. But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now!"

Superboy started walking away. _"_ _Don't worry Superboy. We'll find an Earth name for you too,"_ she said telepathically.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he shouted.

 _"_ _What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically,"_ Megan asked in complete confusion as the others grabbed their head. Both 'Bee and Emerald having some particularly bad memories with telepaths come forwards as she breached their lowered mental walls.

"Megan stop!" Kaldur ordered. "Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides, telepaths left a bad taste in their brains," Wally said pointing to Superboy, Brandon, and Erica.

"I-I d-didn't mean to—" she stuttered.

"Just. Stay. Out!" the clone snapped.

The stood there awkwardly for a moment before she smacked her forehead. "Hello Megan! I know what we can do!" she said flying off. The others fallowed, except Superboy who just sat on the couch. "Superboy? Please."

"Don't talk to me," he growled. Megan looked down sadly, noticing this he sighed and got up.

They went down to the hangar where a small red and black pod sat. "It's my Martian Bioship."

 _"_ _I've heard about these,"_ 'Bee said looking it over. _"_ _They're mostly organic and fallow mental commands right?"_

"Yep," she smiled.

"Cute, not aerodynamic, but cute," Wally commented.

"It's at rest dummy," Em said as Megan woke it. It transformed into an actually decedent sized ship.

Going inside they all sat down in seats, only to jump as the seatbelts buckled themselves. _"_ _Wow."_

"I know right!" Erica said high-fiving him.

"Red Tornado please open the hangar doors," Megan said taking the driver's seat.

"Incredible!" Robin said as they flew out.

"She sure is," Wally sighed as they all looked at him. "I-I mean the ship! And which like all ships is a she."

"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth," Robin snickered.

"Dude!"

Up in front Aqualad was talking with Superboy. "I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking. You overreacted and don't know how to apologize; just say sorry," he consoled.

"He'll come around," Emerald whispered.

"He doesn't seem to like me much," Megan sighed.

 _"_ _Y'all do remember he has super hearing right?"_

"Hey, how about showing us a little Martian shapeshifting," Robin suggested.

Megan hesitantly stood up before she turned into Emerald Lantern, uniform and all. She then turned into female versions of Robin, Bumblebee, and Kid Flash. "Is it wrong I think I'm hot?" Wally asked.

 _"_ _So that's what I look like as a girl,"_ Bee commented.

"Impressive," Robin said clapping. "But you know you won't fool anyone with those."

"Mimicking boys is harder," she said sitting back down.

"And your clothes?" Erica asked.

"They're organic, like the ship, they respond to my mental commands," she clarified.

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy grumbled.

"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing Manhunter does?!" Wally asked.

"Density Shifting?" she asked. "…No, it's a very advanced technique."

"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Erica snickered. "When he tries it: bloody nose."

"EM!"

"Here's something I can do!" Around them the outside of the ship began changing to match the landscape around them. "Camouflage mode."

 _"_ _It's not completely invisible, we'll have to be careful,"_ Bumblebee said flatly.

"Only you can make something this cool seem less awesome," Wally groaned.

 _"_ _I do my best."_

/Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate, covertly. I'm sending coordinates/

"Received," she replied. "Adjusting course."

"Tornado's keeping us busy again," Robin muttered.

"Well, a simple fire led us to Superboy," Erica pointed out putting on her ring. "We should at least check it out."

"Think I know the cause," Superboy said. Looking where he was they saw a tornado coming at them. The landed and hopped out of the ship, staring at it.

"Robin? Are tornadoes common in New England?" Aqualad asked only to see that both the Boy Wonder and Autobot had managed to ditch them. "Guys?!"

"I hate it when they do that!" Emerald growled. "Freaking ninjas!"

At the plant several windows exploded, looking at each other and nodding they ran in to see Robin blasted back into a column as Bumblebee got hurled through a wall. "Who's your new friend?" Superboy asked landing next to the Boy Wonder.

"Didn't catch his name but he play's kinda rough!" Robin snapped as the clone leapt at him.

"My apologizes. You may address me as: Mr. Twister," the man in the robotic suit replied sending Superboy flying back.

Wally pulled out his goggles and put them on, charging the tornado-making man, a whirlwind erupted underneath him and sent him flying out of the building. Kalur and Megan charged together, but another tornado sent them flying back near where Superboy landed.

"I was ready to be challenged by a superhero, I was not, however, expecting children," Mr. Twister sneered.

"We're not children!" Robin snapped hurling several exploding disks at him.

Twister used more wind to knock all but one off their course, and the one that did land he just flicked off before it exploded. "Objectively you are. Have you not adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

"Well we hate to see you disturbed! Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!" Emerald shouted. Creating a giant whip, she sliced through an object above him, releasing tons of steam. Bumblebee and Superboy leapt together, but Twister raised his hands and sent both flying back into Emerald and Miss Martain. While they went down, Robin and Aqualad charged together, only to have two tornados come up under them and slam them together.

"Indeed, that was quite turbing," Twister said flying out.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY TEAM?!" Kid Flash demanded.

"Embarrassed them largely," the man replied before he made a larger tornado send in towards the building with KF inside.

As it slammed in Wally found himself floating above the ground. "I got ya Wally!" Megan said dropping him.

"I thought you would've all learned your lesson by now."

 _"_ _WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"_

"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero."

"Read his mind, find a weakness," Aqualad said.

"But I thought I wasn't supposed to!"

"IT'S OK WITH THE BAD GUYS!" Robin corrected.

Megan tried to read his mind but found herself coming up blank; much like she did whenever she tried to read Tornado's, Emerald's, or any of the Autobots when they were on guard. "Nothing! I'm getting nothing!" she growled. "Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?!"

"Red Tornado sent us here," Aqualad realized.

"After saying we'd be tested soon enough! This is his test! Something to keep us busy!" Robin snarled.

"Speedy called it! We're a joke," Wally agreed. "This game, so over."

 _"_ _Guys?"_

"We know who you are and what you want!" Robin snapped.

"So let's end this."

"Consider it ended," Twister said creating a massive storm with lightning and whirling winds.

"An impressive show! But we will not indulge you! We will not engage!" Aqualad declared.

 _"_ _Guys!"_

"Can Red Tornado so that?" Wally asked once they saw the lightning.

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic," Twister said sending lightning at them, blasting them back. Both Bumblebee and Superboy got to their feet and glared up at him. Superboy was the first to jump, getting hit by lightning as he flew up. Bumblebee continued to evade shots on the ground, accessing part of the man's suit, he deactivated the lightning generators. Twister growled in anger before creating a tornado to send the teen flying through a few trees.

Megan was the first to regain consciousness. Seeing Twister float towards them, she summoned the Bioship and had it stand between them and him in camouflage mode, hiding them. Wally groaned but she slapped her hand over his mouth to silence him.

"Fine then. I won't deny you children have power. But I need to achieve my objectives so stay concealed. If you get in my way again I assure you I will show no mercy!" With that ominous threat, he flew off towards the town.

"What happened?" Wally asked sitting up.

"I placed the Bioship between us," M'gann replied.

"And that's supposed to make it right?" Superboy growled punching a rock. "You made us think that Twister was Red Tornado!"

"She didn't do it on purpose Superboy!" Emerald snapped, getting between her and him should his temper get out of control again.

"It was a rookie mistake we shouldn't have listened," Robin said. "We should've listened to 'Bee; who I bet was trying to warn us before we got blasted!"

"You are pretty inexperienced…" KF remarked. "Hit the showers, we'll take it from here."

"Stay out of our way!" Superboy snarled as he jumped off, fallowed by Robin and KF.

"I'll go find 'Bee," Emerald said flying off.

"I-I was just trying to be part of the team," M'gann said hanging her head.

"To be honest, I'm not sure we even have a team," Aqualad confessed before he too ran off.

-.-

People in town screamed as they ran away from the twisters wrecking the town. "Certainly this will get the required attention!" Mr. Twister snarled.

"YOU GOT OURS! FULL AND UNDIVIDED!" Wally shouted charging the man. He leapt up, and rammed his feet into the metal suit.

"Infernal and insufficient! You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate!"

Superboy released a battle cry as he landed where Twister stood a moment before.

Above them Miss Martian flew the Bioship. "The team really needs your help."

"If I intervened, it would not be to help," the android said. "Still it is an odd coincidence that this Twister shares my elemental abilities, and my immunity to telepathy."

"Hello! Megan!"

Down below, Robin and Aqualad leapt off a car, barely avoiding the tornadoes that kept being sent at them. One managed to get Aqualad and it sent him hurling into a building as KF got thrown over Twister by one before he kept running, dodging the exploding ones that resulted from Robin's explosives being caught inside. Twister then aimed another at Superboy, sending him flying towards Aqualad, before he got a boat out of the water sending it after. Seeing the incoming person, Aqualad dove out of the way as Superboy and the boat crashed into the building. Seeing the motor land next to him, the Atlantian picked it up and hurled it at the tornado maker.

Robin and Kid hid behind a boat; glancing back Wally scoffed as he saw his best friend pulling out his utility belt. "You brought your utility belt?"

"Never leave home without it. First thing Batman taught me," he declared proudly.

"Sorry we're late!" Emerald said landing next to them with 'Bee. "It took longer to get those trees off him than I thought it would. Seriously, how do you manage to get yourself pinned under eight trees?"

 _"_ _Magic!"_

 _"_ _Listen to me. All of you,"_ M'gann said inside their heads.

"What did we tell you?!" Superboy snarled.

 _"_ _I know! And I know I messed up, but now I'm very clear on what we need to do, please trust me!"_

 _"_ _Alright I'm in, what's the plan?!"_

Red Tornado flew in and landed right in front of them. "Hit the showers. I was hoping you could handle this, clearly you cannot."

"But we have a plan now," Robin protested.

"The subject is not up for debate," Tornado replied as they looked sullen and walked off.

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Twister sneered.

"I'm here now." Sticking out his hand, a tornado formed and he sent if after the attacker. Creating his own, Twister sent rocks at the android, but found them deflected by another twister. "We're evenly matched Twister." A tornado formed behind him and rocks flew at the imposter.

"No Tornado we are not!" he snarled slamming his fist into the ground creating a wind column blocking the stones. Due to his lightning generators being shorted out, he sent heated air columns after the flying hero. One managed to hit a boat, making it explode and toss the hero into the ground. "Remain still." Several cords exited his fingertips and connected to his ports. "Reprogramming won't take long."

"Longer than you might think," Megan smiled turning back from Red Tornado.

"No!"

She sent him flying back with a telekinetic blast, right into a tornado which flung him away before dissipating to reveal KF spinning. Superboy punched a few holes in the suit before tossing him up to where a green race car track appeared. The car hit him and shoved him down the track into the water, where Aqualad waited. Swimming up with an anchor, he shocked the bad guy, before blasting him out to where Robin hurled two more exploding disks at him, before Bumblebee came in and started deactivating everything. The systems shut down, and he even somehow made the arms fall off. The suit sat up and opened, before a man with greying hair was flung out.

"Foul! I call Foul," he said sheepishly staring at them.

Miss Martian lifted a rock telekinetically, before holding it over him, and crushing him. The others stared in shock before Robin stormed over. "DON'T KNOW HOW THINGS ARE DONE ON MARS! BUT ON EARTH! WE DON'T EXECUTE OUR CAPTIVES!" Robin scolded.

"You said you trust me," she said lifting the rock revealing a broken android. "That's why I couldn't read his mind!"

 _"_ _You're telling me I could've saved us all the trouble from the start?"_ 'Bee groaned.

KF walked up and plucked an eye off the ground. "Cool, souvenir!"

"We should've had more faith in you," Aqualad apologized.

"Yea. You rocked this mission!" Wally grinned. "Get it? Rocked?"

"Ignore him," Emerald said smacking him upside the head.

"We're all just turbed you're on the team," Robin smiled.

"Thanks guys."

-.-

Unknown location

"Now, Bron, aren't you glad I didn't let you wear the suit?" a doctor asked.

"Extremely, but you're not upset?"

"I'm convinced our tracking program was operational, and that the real Tornado was somewhere in the vicinity. But you know science is always changing. Even failure can be instructive, and I say we learned quite a lot today."

-.-

Mount Justice

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Aqualad said as they examined it back at the cave.

"Agreed."

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" Megan asked.

"No. This was your battle, it is not my place to solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me."

"But if you're in danger…" Erica began.

"Consider the matter closed," Tornado said walking away.

"Batman, Aquaman, GL, and Flash; they would've all jumped right on in to fix things," Wally grumbled.

"Guess if we have a babysitter a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Robin muttered.

 _"_ _Robin,"_ Brandon scolded as he continued looking over the tech.

"And inaccurate. I have a heart: carbon-steel alloy," Tornado replied. "I also have excellent hearing."

"Right…I'll strive to be more accurate," he said with a slight smile.

"And more respectful," Erica said slinging an arm over his shoulder.

"Speedy was so wrong," Wally commented as they began leaving.

"This team thing," Aqualad said.

"Might just work out," Erica and Robin said. "JINX!"

"Ha! I win! You owe me a soda!" Erica laughed as she walked away.

As Superboy turned to leave he looked at Megan. "Sorry."

 **A/N: please review.**


	9. Training Day

Chapter 8

 **A/N: I own nothing.**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 **/comm or text/**

July 14 Nemesis

"Such a shame, but I applaud you Lord Megatron. You certainly made a grand exit," Starscream snickered as he watched the clip. Soundwave walked up behind the new leader and looked at him. "Ah Soundwave, que the audio-visual. I wish to address the troops." A few beeps sounded and his face appeared on every screen in the ship. "The loss of Lord Megatron, leader of the Great Decepticon Uprising, is certainly a blow to our cause. Yet, we mustn't despair over his tragic demise, but instead embrace his ultimate sacrifice and build upon the foundation he laid. With an even mightier hand!"

"With all due respect Commander—Lord Starscream," a trooper corrected. "If we failed to conquer Earth under Lord Megatron's command. What hope do we have now while the Autobots and Justice League still defend it?"

"Let me be crystal clear: I studied for millennia under our former master. Thus I am equipped to lead you! I! MEGATRON'S TRUE HEIR! LORD STARSCREAM! EMEROUR OF DESTRUCTION!" he heard some whispers going around and growled as Soundwave deactivated the feed. "What use are troops who cannot rise to the task of doing unspeakable destruction in my name?! But wait…legend tells of one warrior, one who exists here, on this very planet, one who can be student to my master!"

-.-

Autobot Base

"Optimus why so glum?" Ratchet asked looking at the brooding Prime. "This planet—all planets are finally free from Megatron's tyranny."

"I do not disagree Ratchet, it's just…a small part of me hoped Solarflare was right, and that I could change Megatron's mind. Not extinguish his spark," he replied.

"Optimus, even she retracted that statement years ago," Ratchet scoffed. "Besides, he wasn't slain by your hand, but by his own arrogance!" Optimus released a low sound and the medic calmed down. "I'm sorry, I know you two had quite a history."

"But the Megatron that Solarflare and I once fought beside perished eons ago; the day he chose to become a Decepticon," he said. "The Decepticons may be in disarray, but they are not without leadership. And while Starscream is no Megatron; he is far from predictable."

An explosion sounded and both raced towards the source. "DECEPTICONS! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Ratchet hollered making Bulkhead and Arcee chase after. Getting to the training room they found all the kids sprawled out on the floor and one unfortunate training drone scattered throughout the room.

 _"_ _It's no attack, just training_ ," Bumblebee groaned sitting up; his hair smoking slightly.

"Speaking of training," Optimus said raising an eyebrow at the smoking hair. "I heard about the incident at Happy Harbor the other day." They all looked at each other sheepishly at them statement. "Suit up, I'm taking you all out for a training exercise. This way we can…avoid another situation like that."

"Really?!" Robin said with a wide smile.

"Does it sound like I'm joking?" the Prime asked seriously.

 _"_ _Ignore that comment. Primes don't party, or joke, or have any form of fun what so ever,"_ Bumblebee stated as Robin started to apologize.

"Remind me of that next time you insist to have another America's Funniest Home Videos marathon," Optimus smiled slightly as 'Bee's eyes went wide. "Meet me by the groundbridge in ten."

"Wow! This is awesome!" Wally said as they all got changed.

"You're telling me, I've managed to look at a few of the datafiles of Cybertronian martial arts when I was last on Oa, but it's really complicated," Emerald said landing next to them.

"Hey 'Bee, you know any?" KF asked.

 _"_ _More than most, but I'm not a master like Prowl, Jazz, or my mom,"_ he answered.

"So you are a ninja?" Wally inquired. Erica smacked her cousin for that comment.

 _"_ _No, just a Scout. My goal right now is to reach Warrior Class."_

"What Class of Scout?" Emerald asked. "I know that most planets base their scout ranks on that of Cybertron, mainly because they're so hard to place in."

 _"_ _I've been Class A ever since I was nine."_

Emerald just floated there as he walked past. "WHAT?!" she exclaimed making the others jump as she hovered over him. "ARE YOU FRICKIN KIDDING ME?! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD OF A LEVEL THAT IS TO REACH?! THERE'S ONLY A HANDFUL THAT'VE EVER REACHED THAT RANK! EVEN THE GREATEST WARRIORS HAVE TROUBLE GETTING TO CLASS D!"

"Then why are you still a scout if you are better than most warriors?" Aqualad asked. "I've seen you in action, you're worthy of the title."

"I second your opinion Aqualad," Optimus said making a few of the teens jump. "But our lifecycles are much longer than humans. And while it may be hard to believe our young scout still has a lot to learn. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Ratchet."

"Optimus if you let one of them hurt you I'm going to let you handle it yourself for being so stupid," the medic warned as he activated the bridge.

"Understood."

-.-

Unkonwn location

Starscream and Soundwave stood on a cliff in their vehicle armor as the TIC scanned the surrounding area.

"During the Great War so much energon was hidden on this forsaken rock! That our beloved master sent some of our greatest warriors to guard it! Warriors that now lie in stasis, waiting to be awakened. Such folly that late in life, Megatron searched space for warriors, rather than here beneath his feet," Starscream rambled.

Soundwave stood behind him, the sound of a scanner going off as he tried to pinpoint the signal.

"What do you mean you can't pinpoint it?! I know we're close! Boost the power to your sensors!"

Doing as asked, Soundwave increased the amount of power he was sending and managed to triangulate the position a few clicks north of them. Jumping up they transformed and flew off. Landing they slowly pulled the stasis pod out of the canyon wall.

"The cube?" Starscream asked and the telepath rolled his eyes behind his mask and handed it to him. Placing it into the cube-shaped hole the energon started to infuse with the one trapped inside.

Further down the canyon a groundbridge opened and they all hopped out. "So what are we doing?" Superboy asked.

"Since it seems you need a lesson in trust, we're going to be performing trust exercises," Optimus said crossing his arms. "The first one is a basic training trust exercise we used on new recruits back on Cybertron. Each of you will be paired off, then you have to catch either Bumblebee or I without using your powers."

"Seems easy enough," Wally grinned.

Optimus reached into his armor subspace and pulled out several blindfolds and earplugs. "One of you will also be blindfolded and the other will have earplugs that not even super hearing can go through. The blind partner will have to trust their partner to be the visual guide, the deaf partner will need theirs to be their ears," Optimus continued explaining. "And if another team manages to catch you you're done. Any questions?"

"Why isn't he doing this?" Robin asked pointing at 'Bee.

"Because he went through it so many times in training he already has every strategy memorized," Optimus stated flatly and they all nodded.

 _"_ _Alright! I've already figured out partners! Team Alpha is Robin and Emerald Lantern! Team Beta is Superboy and Kid Flash! And Team Chance is Miss Martian and Aqualad! Tagging other teams isn't allowed until ten minutes from now! Decide who will be blindfolded and who will be deaf, and then start! May the odds be ever in your favor!"_ 'Bee explained before both Prime and the scout vanished.

Spreading out throughout their part of the canyon, they made their decisions. Robin decided to be the blind one, while Emerald was the one without her hearing. Superboy was blindfolded and KF put in the earplugs. And M'gann decided to be deaf as Aqualad put the blindfold on.

As 'Bee ran down the canyon he skid to a stop and peered around a corner. _"_ _Dad, we have a situation"_

/What is it Bumblebee?/

 _"_ _Cons. Starscream and Soundwave; they're opening a stasis pod. Should I engage?"_

/Negatory, keep back and observe until I arrive/

 _"_ _What about the team?"_

/I will alert them as I find them/

 _"_ _Alright sir, Bumblebee out"_ Hanging up he watched as the pod began to open.

"Awaken warrior. Rise to serve your new master!" Starscream declared.

"Skyquake has only one master," the Cybertronian in his vehicle armor said stepping out.

"Excellent, your loyalty will set a fine example for the troops," the new leader said. "No need to be timid Skyquake, you may bow."

"You fail to grasp my meaning. I am here on a mission assigned to me by my one master: Megatron," he restated.

"Yes, him…sadly Megatron is no longer with us."

"Impossible."

"Why is this so difficult for everyone to accept?!" Starscream fumed. "Skyquake. _I_ found you, _I_ woke you! Thus, _I_ am your new master!"

Optimus crept up next to Bumblebee, peering over the smaller boy's shoulders. "I have managed to alert Kid Flash and Superboy about the situation, they are now telling the others. What have you managed to find out?"

 _"_ _That Starscream has an ego the size of Cybertron and that 'Skyquake' has some serious issues. Seriously? Who refers to themselves in third person?"_

"Skyquake you say?" 'Bee nodded and he stood up. "Go warn the team to stay clear of the fight, then await my command."

 _"_ _Bumblebee to team_ " he said activating his comm.

/Dude, what's going on?!/ KF asked.

 _"_ _Cons. We need you guys to stay clear of the upcoming fight, Prime's orders. 'Bee out"_ abruptly hanging up he hid against the cliff as his father went out to confront the two.

"Skyquake, it has been some time," Optimus said.

"Prime," the man growled shoving Starscream aside. "I haven't seen you since the Battle of Technar. Megatron ordered me to annihilate you."

"That was a long time ago."

"That may be Prime, but my orders still stand!"

"Is this ancient war still worth fighting? When so many comrades have been lost? And worlds destroyed? If you want to be a true leader Starscream, then stray from Megatron's path and lead the Decpeticons towards peace," Optimus spoke.

"I would be willing to consider a truce, if you would be willing to bow before me Optimus Prime," Starscream said stunning them.

"Did Prime really just end a several million-year-old war with a few simple words?" Emerald asked as they spied from above.

"Again?! Bow to this!" Skyquake snapped punching the Vosian into the wall.

Starscream transformed and took off. "What need do I have for peace when I have Skyquake?" he asked landing next to Soundwave on another cliff. "With some discipline, he will learn to respect his new master. And once it is known that he destroyed Optimus Prime under my command, all Decepticons will gratefully bow to me."

"Nope," Robin answered Emerald's question as the fight began.

"Skyquake, this is a new era, on another world. Side with the Autobots and help me end this conflict forever!" Optimus implored.

"I WILL NEVER SIDE WITH A PRIME!" the man said getting out of his vehicle armor and charging him with a battle cry.

The Prime rolled out of the way, exchanging the servo of his armor for a gun. He shot the other man several times. Skyquake pulled out a machine gun, fining, he managed to knock the Prime back a few paces. Around the corner, Bumblebee's patience had just run out. Bolting out, his wrist guns came online, and he shot at several weak points in the back armor.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus warned once he saw the other man aiming his gun towards the teen. Climbing up he jumped between either cliff wall, dodging the fire. Leaping down, he meant to punch him, but was instead slammed brutally into the wall. As Skyquake was about to open fire, Optimus came hit him from the side. 'Bee scrambled to his feet, and climbed up the wall, leapt off, jumped off of Skyquake's head and landed a few paces in front of him. Skyquake then stood between both Autobots not sure of which to attack first.

"Don't miss a single moment Soundwave! We shall need visual documentation of Prime's demise: for the historical record!"

Optimus was the first to move, Bumblebee circled around them as they fought waiting for the opening he needed. Unfortunately, it didn't come as Optimus was pushed back towards him. Behind them a groundbridge opened and their vehicles came out. "Skyquake's vehicle has not yet been adapted to Earth, his natural jet will not be able to fly through the canyon," Optimus explained. Nodding they swung into their vehicles and drove back.

"Are they running?" Wally asked.

"I think they have a plan," Robin said as he began chasing after.

"What do you mean you lost sight of them?! Why weren't you keeping track?!" Starscream growled at Soundwave.

Soundwave pulled up an image of the space outside of Earth and the Decepticon life signal floating around in the old spacebridge debris.

"But Skyquake's the only sleeper in this sector…the sight of out destroyed spacebridge. You're not telling me, that life signal belongs to Megatron?!" he gasped. "B-But he was microns from the detonation point! Nothing could've survived! Your sensors must be faulty! Ignore the contact! Delete the coordinates!"

Starscream gripped his head as he felt a warning push against his mind. Turning towards the telepath he saw multiple little arrows on the screen pointing at it.

"O-of course this must be investigated. If Lord Megatron is truly up there, I shall bring him home! Reman here and monitor the outcome. When Skyquake snuffs Prime's spark, I must bear witness," Starscream said jumping off the ledge, transforming he flew up into space.

 _"_ _Must bear witness,"_ Soundwave repeated detaching Lazerbeak from his chest, making the cassette fly after.

-.-

/Tango 6 Alpha to central command. We're picking up transmissions from unidentified tech; possibly hostile. We are moving to investigate/

/Negative Tango 6 Alpha/ Fowler said intercepting the transmission. /This is Special Agent William Fowler intercepting. Strike your report from the record and provide origin coordinates. I'll take it from here/

-.-

Bumblebee drove like a madman as Skyquake chased after him in his vehicle armor. Swerving around a bend, he slammed on the brakes as he hit a dead end; emphasis on the _dead_ part. "It will be a shame to crush you bug, but it is my duty." Hearing something, the Decepticon turned to see Optimus transform and punch him through a large boulder.

"Excellent strategy Bumblebee," the Prime praised. Skyquake attempted to get up, but he was punched down again. "Skyquake, stay down."

"What's that?" Superboy said hearing something. Looking up they all saw Fowler flying above them in a jet. Below them the Con grinned and scanned the schematics of the craft.

In his jet, Fowler stared at the craft that appeared beside him. "So that's how they do it," he growled readying his weapons. "Stealing plans for a classified military aircraft will not be tolerated on my watch!"

Diving down the Decepticon started firing at the two, seeing their predicament, Superboy jumped and slammed into the jet, knocking it off course momentarily. "Agent Fowler, please I advise you retreat," Aqualad said. At that moment, the Cybertronian ducked behind his jet and fired several missiles that started fallowing him. Flying up Miss Martian made the missiles slam into each other.

/Fine then/ the agent sighed. /But I'll be on standby should you need me/

-.-

Space

Starscream navigated his way through the debris of the spacebridge before transforming and carefully landing on one of the larger remains. "No one could've survived this," he said looking around. "Probably just faulty sensors; just like I said. The last thing I need are rumors that Megatron is still—"

A pained groan echoed around him, looking around he saw a faint violet glow. Jumping towards it he gaped as he landed near Megatron. Suddenly the man latched onto him before groaning and collapsing again.

"But how…?" Starscream looked at the massive hole in his commander's chest and saw the source of the glow; the dark energon shard he stabbed into his chest a few days prior. "Of course, dark energon." He leaned in and whispered into Megatron's audio receptor. "Everyone believes you are deceased. Who am I to disappoint them, _master_?" reaching into the hole, he ripped out the shard. Megatron gasped and looked at his SIC before falling back into unconsciousness. "And this time: STAY DEAD!" The seeker grinned only to frown as he saw Lazerbeak weaving through the debris. Hiding the shard, he looked towards the cassette. "Soundwave, if you're listening, I've found Lord Megatron and he is…unwell. We must transport him to sickbay, immediately!"

-.-

Canyon

Optimus swung back and grabbed Superboy once he hit the ground, transforming around the teen, the clone soon found himself sitting next to a very irritated looking Prime. "I thought I told you to stay away from the fight?!"

"You did, we didn't listen," he answered as he saw M'gann and Emerald chasing after. The Martian was levitating boulders behind her as Emerald used a baseball-mitt to hurl them at him. Robin was running along the sidelines with Aqualad and Kid Flash, throwing explosives as they went.

Bumblebee drove up a rather conveniently placed ramp and onto the top of the cliff. Transforming he ran and jumped onto a ledge, before leaping onto Skyquake. The others stopped as they stared at the two flying up into higher altitudes. Letting Superboy out, Optimus transformed and frowned.

"I'll get him!" Emerald said flying after.

Up in the air, Skyquake was desperately trying to shake 'Bee off of him. Managing to retain a firm grip, 'Bee began punching through more vulnerable parts of the armor, ripping out wires as he did so. They fell past Erica as she flew up, quickly changing directions she made a large platform for him to land on.

"C'MON!"

Taking a breath, 'Bee jumped and landed safely on it as Skyquake proceeded to crash into the ground. Getting down to the bottom they all walked up towards the crash site, Skyquake's body lying limply outside the cockpit. "Had Skyquake chosen to stray from his master's path, we might not be burying him today," Optimus said grimly.

"H-He's d-dead, y-you k-killed him," Megan said in shock.

 _"_ _It's what's done in war_ ," 'Bee responded.

In the back Wally held onto one of the blindfolds. "…Souvenir…"

-.-

Autobot Base

"Bumblebee, putting yourself in harm's way was not the wisest decision," Optimus scolded once Ratchet finished scanning him. "But you performed admirably."

 _"_ _Thanks Dad…So how do you think they fared in the exercise against Batman?"_

-.-

Cave

All three teams were caught in traps trying to get themselves out. Emerald was trapped in goo, separated from her ring, Robin stuck with her without his gloves or utility belt. Superboy and Wally were trapped in a high energy force field that shocked them every time they touched it and only got stronger each time they did something against it. Aqualad was dangling from the roof by ropes, as Megan was lying in the middle of a ring of fire. Meanwhile Batman just smirked slightly as he stood in the middle of all the chaos.

Flash chuckled as he took a picture. "Batman: 12. Team: 0."

-.-

Base

"They failed miserably," Prime chuckled as he saw the photo Flash sent him and showed his son.

 _"_ _Maybe they should've realized it was a doomed mission from the start?"_

"That would've been the wisest decision on their part."

-.-

Nemesis

"The troops will be pleased to hear of our success of rushing Megatron into stasis," Starscream said as he and Soundwave stood before Megatron's catatonic form. "Let us hope our Master pulls through."

 **A/N: alright, I know, not my best chapter.**


	10. Picking a Leader

Chapter 9

 **A/N: I just own this story, nothing else belongs to me.**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 ** _/_** **comm or text/**

 **"** **other languages"**

July 17 Santa Prisca

Alarms went off as dozens of men in red and black surrounded about five guys, one being a buff man with a black and white mask over his face.

 **"** **Our sublime Master has agreed that He will depart this facility, if one of you defeats his champion in single combat."**

The masked man stepped forwards and stood at the entrance. **"** **Just make it interesting,"** he said going inside. on the other side a lanky boy stood with a smirk. Looking next to him he saw the device that gives him his extra strength land next to him. **"** **You're giving me back my greatest weapon? What's the catch?"**

 **"** **No catch,"** the man responded. **"** **It would hardly test his champion's prowess if you were not at your best."**

 **"** **You want my best?"** Bane asked attaching it to himself, almost instantly he became almost twice as buff. **"** **You got it."**

A girl walked up behind the lanky boy and injected him with a purple liquid. He gave a pained grunt as he began to spasm, his muscles growing to a beastly size, his skin turned green and ripped showing thick muscular chords underneath, and he became basically a monster. He charged Bane, the masked villain caught the hand and tried to punch his opponent, but the blow had no effect. The beast pnched him in the gut and he gasped from the sheer force behind it. The blows afterwards came so fast he couldn't even detect them, before he was hurled into the wall and hit again and again. Mammoth picked up Bane and tossed him into the center of the room, jumping after he landed a solid punch to his head, knocking him out cold.

"Hail Cobra. Hail Cobra! Hail Cobra! HAIL COBRA! HAIL COBRA! HAIL COBRA!" the started chanting.

-.-

July 18 Mt. Justice

"Isla Santa Prisca," Batman said. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neruosteroid, a strength enhancing drug sold under the street name 'venom.' Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in. This is a covert recon mission only! Observe and report. If the Justice League need to intervene it will. The plan requires two drop zones."

"So, who's in charge?" Robin asked.

Batman and Optimus looked at each other then back at the team. "Figure that out amongst yourselves," Optimus replied before they continued explaining.

-.-

Santa Prisca

"Drop zone A in thirty," Miss Martian said. Emerald and Aqualad stood up. Pressing a button on his suit Aqualad's uniform changed to black and grey. Emerald just remained as she was, her uniform was based on her willpower after all...most of the time anyways.

"Ready," he said.

"Putting Bioship in camouflage mode," she said.

Diving closer to the water, a portal opened at the bottom letting both dive in. They swam past the mines and cut through the net, hopping out they went over to the security monitor and put it on a loop. /Heat and motion sensors are patched, data's now on a continuous loop, move in/ Emerald said.

"Drop zone B," M'gann said stopping the ship.

They all stood up and Kid pushed his symbol, his uniform also changing to darker tones. "How cool is this?" he asked.

"Very nice," Miss Martian said before willing her clothes to transform into her stealth gear.

"Uh…that works too," Wally responded. "Hey Supey! Not too late to try the new stealth tech!"

"No capes, no tights, no offense," he said crossing his arms.

"Totally works for you," Miss M said. "In that you can totally do good work in those clothes!" Embarrassed, she tossed up her hood, going into camouflage mode herself. Opening the bottom door, she jumped out fallowed by 'Bee, Robin, and KF using their cables to get out. Landing they all jumped out of the way as Superboy created a small crater.

"Knew I didn't need a line," he said smugly.

"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped much with the covert!" Robin grumbled.

/Aqualad, drop B is go/

/Head for the factory, we'll rendezvous at your coordinates ASAP/ he responded.

/Rodger that/

The larger group made their way through the jungle with Robin and Bumblebee at the lead. Pulling up his screen Robin detected the mines up ahead.

In the back Superboy stopped as he heard something. "Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Uh, no…wait? Is this one of those super hearing things?" KF asked.

"You do have great ears," Megan swooned.

"Ok guys, now what?" Wally asked turning to find both spies gone. "I hate it when they do that!"

/Hey Superboy and my dumb cousin switch to infrared to see if you're being tracked!/ Emerald scolded.

Lowering his goggled Kid activated the scanners. "Got a squad of armed bozos incoming."

"Two squads," Superboy added. "But they'll reach each other before us."

At that moment gunfire started and they sighed. "No super hearing required now," KF commented.

/SWING WIDE! STEER CLEAR/ Aqualad ordered.

"Yea, yea, just as soon as I find the guys!" Wally said breaking into a run. Tripping over himself, he skid to a stop between the two squads who stopped firing and were now staring at him. "So much for the stealthy."

They began firing at the speedster who luckily wasn't hit by any of the bullets. Superboy broke out of the bushes and attacked Bane. Two of Bane's guys looked up to see Robin falling down at them. Before they could react, the small teen punched one out and roundhouse kicked the other.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?! WHY DIDN'T YOU FALLOW OUR LEAD: VANISH INTO THE JUNGLE!" he snapped.

"SO THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE DOING?! WE'RE NOT MIND READERS!" Kid snapped as M'gann sent two guys into a tree. "Err…well…I'm not."

"You said I could only read the bad guy's minds," she said landing.

Hearing a cry, they saw Bumblebee fighting the last few with relative ease, several already unconscious around him, one tried to run, but a green wall appeared in front of him and Aqualad landed behind him, knocking the man out with his bioelectricity. "You missed one," Emerald said.

 _"_ _I know these uniforms, they belong to the Cult of the Cobra,"_ Bumblebee said as he started tying them up.

"I'm certain Optimus would've told us if he knew one of your major extremist groups was running Santa Prisca's venom operation," Aqualad said.

 _"_ _We haven't seen any activity from the Cult in a while now, we thought they finally got the message. Seems they decided to come here and toss these guys out instead."_

"And that's why the usual lines have been cut off," Emerald agreed.

"We get it, Cobra wanted super cultists, let's radio Bats and Prime and get home!" Kid Flash groaned.

"These cultists aren't on venom! Cobra's hoarding this stuff! We can't leave, not until I know why," Robin said.

"Until you know why?!" Wally growled.

"This team needs a leader!"

"Dude, you're a thirteen-year-old kid! Who ducked out on us without a word!" KF snapped.

"And you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover first chance you got!" Robin retorted.

"Don't you wanna lead?" M'gann asked Superboy.

He just shook his head. "You?"

"After the Mr. Twister fiasco," she groaned.

"You did alright," he reassured.

 **"** **Look at them argue! Free yourself while they're distracted!"**

 **"** **Quiet! For now, I'll play along. They'll give me what I need."**

Emerald and Bumblebee listened quietly to the chatter on the sidelines, translating what they were discussing to themselves, looking at each other they nodded in understanding, before turning back to the argument before them.

"YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE SUPERPOWERS!"

"NEITHER DOES BATMAN!"

"DUH! YOU'RE NOT BATMAN!"

"CLOSEST THING WE GOT!"

"Such clever ninoes, but you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory, via my secret entrance," Bane said.

"There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something," Miss Martain said trying to read his mind.

"Na uh, uh chika, Bane is not that easy."

"Ugh! He's mentally reciting football scores, in Española, this could take a while," she muttered.

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he said.

 _"_ _Till he betrays us,"_ Bumblebee muttered and Emerald nodded.

-.-

"Sublime Master, he approaches," a man said.

"Activate the radio-jamming net. Nothing much interfere," Cobra replied.

-.-

The team stood on a cliff overlooking the factory. Emerald, Kid Flash, Robin, and Bumblebee all pulled out binoculars and zoomed in. "Look at all that product," Emerald said.

"A buy is going down, but if Cobra's not selling to the usual suspects then…" Robin said.

 _"_ _We need to identify that buyer."_

"Just what I was thinking," KF agreed.

"Yea, you're the thinker," Robin snickered.

"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers," Emerald scolded.

Bane went over to a rock, picked it up and tossed it out of the way, revealing a tunnel. "Answers are this way," he said going in.

"So now el luchador is our leader," Wally said rolling his eyes as Emerald punched his arm as she walked by. Going through the tunnel, Bane opened a door and both the Boy Wonder and Scout peered out before moving.

"Have those little fools already been caught?" Bane growled.

"No, they just do that," Aqualad groaned.

"Stay put! I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder!" Kid said running off.

"Wait!" Aqualad said but he was already gone.

"Great chain of command," Bane muttered.

Above them Bumblebee and Robin waited for the knockout gas to clear before moving in. Pushing the unconscious men aside they began working on the computers.

"What ya got?" KF said sliding in.

"Chemical formulas, I'm guessing it involves venom but…" Robin trailed off.

"This one is venom and that one is…whoa, the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus. This new formula is three times stronger than venom, and permanent. But how did Cobra get access to Project Blockbuster?"

 _"_ _Our mystery buyer must also be the supplier, using it to create a Blockbuster-Venom super formula,"_ 'Bee said as he continued sifting through the files. _"_ _Scrap!"_

"What?!"

 _"_ _The Blockbuster formula contains energon."_

"And that's why he got so strong; isn't energon what makes you guys so powerful in the first place?" Robin questioned.

 _"_ _Energon is actually our blood, and it is extremely toxic for humans. It's a miracle Desmond didn't erode from the inside out. Whatever these other bonding agents are they counter effect the corrosive toxins."_

"Yikes."

"Robin to Aqualad we got…Static," he said.

"It's a massive shipment," Aqualad said as they hid behind several crates.

"Yea, but they're only getting new product, they aren't touching this venom," Emerald noticed.

"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss M suggested.

"Helicopter's coming," Superboy warned.

The men gathered as the copter landed and Sportsmaster stepped out and walked up to Cobra. "Lord Cobra."

"Sportsmaster," Cobra greeted. "The shipment is ready." He motioned to a woman holding a box, opening it she showed five new vials of the violet liquid.

"The new Cobra Venom?" Sportsmaster asked taking one.

"A complete success," he said motioning to the monster beside him. "Our new friends, will not be disappointed."

"This is a game changer! Finally! We can go mono-a-mono with the Justice League!"

Above them M'gann floated in camouflage mode. _"_ _Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now."_

"Sportsmaster? He is the buyer?" Aqualad gasped from where they moved to one of the overhead walks. "Aqualad to Red Tornado do you read?" Kaldur tried a few more comm channels before sighing in defeat. "Can't reach the League, the Autobots, Robin, Kid, or Bee. Comm's jammed. We need a plan."

"I have a suggestion," Bane said throwing himself over the edge and onto the guards below. Hearing the commotion, Mammoth burst through the window and knocked down the platform they were on. Superboy and Venom began to fight as Aqualad and Emerald dealt with the guards. Both made shields to protect themselves, but as Kaldur was shooting water shots at them Em was having a blast using one of those tennis ball machines that automatically fire the ball for you. Except she created it with her energy, put it on its fastest level, and made over ten.

Miss M flew over them, seeing her despite her camouflage, Sport's Master pulled out a javelin and hurled it at her. Barely dodging she was tossed back as it exploded.

As Kaldur was about to find himself pinned, KF came from nowhere and knocked they guys down before hiding behind a beam. "Miss Martian! Radio is jammed! Link us up!" the Atlantiean ordered.

Hearing his request, she linked them up. _"_ _Is everyone online?"_

 _"_ _Yea…"_

 _"_ _You know it beautiful."_

 _"_ _Shut up Wally!"_

 _"_ _Good, we need to regroup,"_ Aqualad stated.

 _"_ _Busy now!"_ Robin said.

"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to task me," Cobra sneered.

"What's wrong Cobie? You look disconcerted," Robin snickered.

"This is beneath me; Shimmer, take him," Cobra commanded and the girl next to him lunged at the Boy Wonder.

 _"_ _Robin! Bumblebee! Now!"_

Tossing a smoke pellet to the ground Robin disappeared inside. They ran back towards the way they came in, seeing Superboy have issues with his opponent, Bumblebee grabbed his arm and hurled him across the building, grabbing Superboy, they ran in and slammed the door shut. As they ran down the tunnel, Mammoth the door burst open.

"Guys! The support beams!" Emerald noticed. Nodding 'Bee and Superboy began helping her destroy the ones behind them, blocking the path between the two parties.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked as 'Bee turned on the headlights built into his armor.

"You do have some of the most experience here, but perhaps that is the issue," Aqualad said. "When with Batman your roles are defined, you don't need to communicate. But this team is new; the leader must be clear, explicit. They cannot just take off and expect others to take part in an unknown plan."

"OH! SO I'M SUPPOSED TO HOLD EVERYONE'S HANDS!?" he snapped.

 _"_ _No, you simply need to give orders in a clear fashion everyone can understand and define roles for each member during a mission. This way everyone knows what to do and when,"_ 'Bee corrected him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Besides I don't have the most experience here, that goes to you 'Bee. You're the oldest here, you're what? 17 million years old?" Robin said. "You have the most experience out of all of us."

 _"_ _I'm 16,999,427 years old to be exact. But just because I am the oldest does not mean I am the best choice. I've been trained in the art of war since I was five and have seen it in action for far longer, which basically means I'm not afraid to kill, unlike the rest of you. Besides, when I do recon it's typically with one partner or alone. Scouts typically aren't in command and aren't the best team players,"_ he said. _"_ _You also need a leader who is consistent. I know I will not be with this team for a good portion of my time; my original team and war come first."_

"Same, as a Lantern I'll be off world a lot to deal with galactic issues," Emerald said as she saw the others look at her. "I think Kaldur should be the leader, he's the only one who's shown the capacity to take up the mantle so far."

"Please! I can run circles around—!"

"Wally c'mon! You know he's the one, we all do," Robin agreed.

"Hello Megan! It's so obvious!"

"Could've told ya," Superboy said.

Bumblebee nodded before smacking the back of the speeder's head as he pouted. "Ok, ok," he said.

"Then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders," Aqualad said looking at Robin. "You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon. Alright, our first priority is keeping that shipment from leaving the island."

 _"_ _I had the same thought! So I gave them a major flight delay!"_ 'Bee grinned behind his mask, hoisting up the helicopter engine.

"Where were you carrying that?"

-.-

"Sabotage," Sports Master growled walking out of the helicopter. "Robin?"

"Bumblebee more likely," Cobra growled. "Shimmer fix it."

The girl bowed and walked off as monster man and a guy ran over. "Master, should we send search parties after the intruders?"

"Don't be a fool," Cobra said.

"They'll come to us," Sports Master finished.

-.-

"Sports Master's the supplier/buyer, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to get the Blockbuster formula, or to get Cobra to do his dirty work," Robin said as they ran through the tunnel.

 _"_ _He also doesn't have the resources to find the energon needed to create the Blockbuster formula in a nontoxic fashion."_

"And there's the fact that neither have the chops to combine Blockbuster and Venom. That took some major nerdage," KF added."

"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg,'" Aqualad said as they came to a halt.

"Halt nineos," Bane said. "I'm feeling explosive."

Looking up they saw several bombs above their heads. "You betrayed us, why?" Aqualad asked.

"Really it was obvious from the start," Emerald grumbled as 'Bee nodded.

"I want my factory back…"

 _"_ _Kid you need a running start,"_ Aqualad said over the link.

 _"_ _Don't worry about him noticing, I've already deactivated the trigger and the bombs themselves; all he's seeing is a blinking red light,"_ Bumblebee added.

"…so I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League certainly would've come to avenge their sidekicks," Bane ranted. "And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside, should have the same effect." He tried to press down on the broken trigger, but it was snatched out of his hand.

"With what? This trigger thing?" Kid asked leaning against a tree.

He tried to lunge at the speedster, but found himself being lifted into the air by Miss Martian's telekinesis. "Finally," Superboy grinned standing below him. "Drop him." Doing as asked Megan dropped him towards Superboy's waiting fist.

-.-

"The helicopter's operational exalted one."

At that moment, a black and grey blur ran through the men taking them down as he went. Above them Emerald flew creating a large baseball bat she used it to go after more of the cultists, screaming: "SNEAK ATTACK!"

"Take the shipment!" Cobra ordered.

"Go again?" Superboy asked landing. The creature growled but was slammed aside by a large column of water. "Sorry not the plan." Behind him Sports Master pulled out a grenade launcher and fired at the clone repeatedly. Seeing this Megan narrowed her eyes and tried to attack him while in camouflage. But, once again, Sports Master saw it and grabber her, wrapping an arm around her throat.

Out on the field KF knocked out a guy next to the cult leader, taking his mask. "Souvenir!" he grinned before running back out into the fray.

Shimmer fell to the ground as a rope wrapped around her, and Robin sat crouching a few feet away. "I know you have getting your hands dirty," Robin snickered. The only reason Cobra dealt with the Autobots so much is because he felt they were on the same level, not "beneath him" like he was.

"True, but sometimes, even gods must stoop to conquer," Cobra said removing his cloak. Robin lunged at him, only to have all his attacks brushed aside. "What's wrong boy? You look disconcerted."

The cultists ran from Emerald as she continued to chase them with her giant bat screaming: "PERISH UNDER MY ANTI-CREEP STICK!" Meanwhile, Aqualad kept pushing the "champion" back with the water. Putting the control all in one hand he placed the other on the water and electrified it. Mammoth cried out before collapsing to the ground unconscious.

Sports Master backed towards the helicopter, using Miss M as a shield. "Thanks for the workout, but I gotta fly," he said tossing her aside.

 _"_ _I don't think so."_ Leaping back Sports Master whipped around to see Bumblebee standing behind him. _"_ _And I don't think you'll be getting this shipment either."_ The bombs on the crates activated before exploding taking out the helicopter, along with several major parts of the factory. While everyone was distracted by the sight, Sports Master sprinted into the forest.

"I am plagued by mosquitoes!"

"Good! Because this mosquito is mighty concerted over your pain!" Robin snarled trying to swipe Cobra's feet out from under him. Only to have the foot moved. He leapt back with the others as they joined.

The cultist's gaze traveled over the entire group, his gaze lingering on the Autobot. "Another time then." Bumblebee lunged forwards but cursed as he saw that Cobra managed to escape again.

"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin chuckled. "Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman and Optimus!"

-.-

July 19, Mt Justice

"A simple recon mission! Observe and report!" Batman said looking at each of them as he walked by the lined-up teens. "You will each be given an evaluation detailing your many mistakes. But until then, good job."

They all looked up confused. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character," Optimus said. "But mistakes on the battlefield can be costly, so I advise not letting this happen again."

-.-

Unknown location

"All I managed to recover was a single ampule of Cobra Venom," Sports Master said holding up the vial before the screens.

"Perhaps it can be reverse engineered," one said.

"But what concerns me is the news; first Cadmus, then Mr. Twister, now Santa Prisca."

"Once is happen stance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action, and enemies of the Light, cannot stand."

 **A/N: alright, I am about to be without internet on my computer for a week, so I will post one or two more chapters tomorrow for your enjoyment before, you, my loyal readers go a week without updates. Please review! :)**


	11. Infestation

Chapter 10

 **A/N: I just own this story, not even the current OC is mine.**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 ** _/_** **comm link** ** _/_**

July 24, Arctic Circle

 _"_ _Are we there yet?"_ Bumblebee whined as he and Bulkhead patrolled the freezing landscape.

"No, we're not there yet, but it should be just over this ridge," Bulkhead answered. Going to the edge of the cliff the two Autobots slid down and looked at the scanner. "I don't get it; these readings are off the meter?"

 _"_ _Bulk, I think I got something."_ Walking over to where he was they saw a large silver pod frozen into the ground.

-.-

Autobot Base

The two patrolling the arctic sat on medical berths as Ratchet defrosted them and their vehicles. "I told you Doc we're fine," Bulkhead said removing the tube again.

"The only way to ensure that is by enduring standard defrosting procedure," the medic said pushing him back down. "You know prolonged exposure to subzero temperatures can cause permanent system damage."

"Ratchet? Have you learned anything more about our arctic find?" Optimus asked.

"Not yet, the pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid.

July 25

"Arcee and I will search for clues to explain the origin of the pod," Optimus said as the bridge activated behind them.

"Only until your sensors sound. Remember once your core temperature drops into the blue zone system failures aren't likely, they're imminent," Ratchet reminded.

The Zeta beams activated. "Robin—B01, Kid Flash—B03, Emerald Lantern—B02, Aqualad—B04, Miss Martian—B07, Superboy—B08."

"Who's ready to party?!" Wally shouted.

"Shouldn't you be in school already?" Ratchet grumbled.

"We still have another week or two!"

"Hey Arcee, weren't you going to show me that recipe?" Megan asked.

"Sorry, my turn for exploration duty," she replied.

"Can we go?!" Erica, Wally, and Robin asked.

"Arctic exploration."

"Nevermind!"

"The Arctic? I've never seen snow before," Superboy said.

"I would invite you all to join, but the conditions are too extreme, even for us," Optimus said looking down at the clone.

"I understand."

"But, I will bring you back a snowball," he said, getting the boy to somewhat smile.

They watched as the two titans made their way through the bridge before Ratchet closed it. "Transport complete," he said just as the controls malfunctioned. "By the All Spark."

"So, what do y'all think we should do today?" Wally asked.

 _"_ _Video game tournament."_

"I like the way you think!" Wally said speeding over to the rec room. Tossing himself on the couch he turned on the station and put in Mario Kart. "Hey Megan, you wanna play? I promise I'll go easy on you."

"Sure thing!" she said grabbing two remotes and handing the other to Superboy as Aqualad grabbed the last one.

"Bulkhead! Bumblebee! Here now!" Ratchet said and the two shrugged before leaving the room.

"Wanna go look around till they're done?" Robin asked.

"Sure, I want to see if we can get into any of their rooms this time," she grinned before they slunk away.

"You can't boss us around just because the boss is out," Bulkhead said as they came up to the medic.

"I need some heavy lifting the groundbridge is down."

 _"_ _Did they make it through alright?"_

"They made it through just fine, but it's bringing them back that concerns me. So, remove those panels," Ratchet instructed.

In another part of the base Emerald and Robin stood in a hall lined with several doors. "So, which room do you think is Optimus'?" Robin asked.

"Hmm…not sure, let's try this one," she said going up to one door. Pressing the button, she was surprised to see that it wasn't locked for once. Going inside they saw a few pictures of Arcee and Cliffjumper. As well as a few more with Cliff, other members of the team, and Cybertronians they didn't know. There was western paraphernalia on the walls: some books, a cowboy hat, and a few movies—mostly westerns—were strewn across a desk. "I think this is—was Cliffjumper's room."

"Yea…" Robin said closing it quietly. Behind them a clang sounded and they both turned and raised their hands.

"We weren't snooping around!"

Seeing no one there they sighed and looked around for the source. Seeing a screw on the floor near some boxes they laughed slightly as Erica picked it up. "I can't believe we were scared of a little screw," she chuckled. At that moment scuttling sounded around them, but they couldn't see where it was coming from. "Hello?" They slowly began backing up only to cry out as they tripped over something. Looking up they fell back as a small creature with big anime eyes and large head with an incredibly small body stood before them.

It scuttled up to them, looking at them curiously. "He, he…where did you come from?" Robin asked.

They stood up with a laugh as it got closer. "The Autobots never said anything about pets," Erica smiled holding up the screw. "Fetch?" The tiny creature jumped and scuttled around. Tossing it, it raced after.

"Don't eat it!" Robin said as they heard a munching sound. It just turned and looked at them, the screw completely gone. "Or you can?"

It ran back over and nuzzled their legs. "So cute!" Erica said holding it. Going back to the rec room they saw that they guys were still playing. "Look what we found!"

"OH MY GOSH! IT'S ADORABLE!" M'gann said flying over.

"What is it?" Kaldur asked.

"No clue, we found it outside of Cliffjumper's room," Robin said. They all jumped as the lights went out, turning back on they saw that their game was gone.

"I WAS WINNING!" Wally shouted at the TV.

"C'mon, let's go show the Bots."

Ratchet reached into the control station and pulled out one of the panels staring at the massive chunks missing from them. "We most definitely have a problem, but what could've caused this?"

"Or that?" Bulkhead asked as the lights flickered again.

"Might be the main grid. Hopefully not a substation malfunction," Ratchet sighed.

"Hey! Look what we found!"

"We're busy—AH!" Ratchet screamed and rose to his feet as he saw the thing in Erica's arms. All three pulled out their weapons and backed away.

"Hey! What's wrong?!" Kaldur asked in shock, never once had he seen any of the Autobots react like that.

"Scraplet! SCRAPLET!" Bulkhead shouted.

"What's a scraplet?" Superboy asked.

"The most dangerous vermin to crawl upon the face of Cybertron," Ratchet snarled.

"This? Are you kidding?" Wally scoffed.

"You're huge and he's, well, tiny," Erica said.

"You have no idea about the damage that tiny thing can do!" Bulkhead snapped while 'Bee nodded.

"He wouldn't hurt anything," Robin said as the scraplet woke up.

Looking around it saw the three Cybertronains before it. Its jaws opened to reveal a terrifying set of rotating, dagger teeth and it lunged at them. Both Bumblebee and Bulkhead shot at it, but the blasts just knocked it back and forth. It eventually got close enough to jump, landing on 'Bee's leg and starting to eat through the flesh. Trying to knock it off, it just began going at his arm, using his other hand he swiped it off and hurled it across the room. The small creature began going back towards them, but was crushed by a green hammer.

"Easy Em," Robin said stopping her as it was already flattened.

After making sure it was dead they ran over to where Ratchet was checking over 'Bee's leg. "I'm so sorry," Erica said.

 _"_ _It's fine,"_ 'Bee winced as Ratchet began stitching his leg.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Superboy asked.

"It's just a minor flesh wound, he'll live," Ratchet said.

"Now do you believe me? All scraplets do is eat anything metal, especially things with living metal!" Bulkhead said.

"Well, bug squashed game over, right?" Wally asked.

"Hardly, when it comes to scraplets there's never just one," Ratchet growled. "And I fear I know how they got in here." They went into the hangar where the pod sat, ripped open. "It's a trap. A scraplet trap."

"An empty scraplet trap," Bulkhead whimpered as 'Bee hid behind Emerald. Despite the fact that all three Autobots were now in their vehicle armor.

"Most likely ejected into space eons ago. Only to wind up in the arctic where the temperature kept them in stasis," Ratchet continued.

"Till we brought the thaw," Superboy said.

"Now they're wide awake and ready for brunch," Robin said.

"How many?" Kaldur asked.

"At least a thousand," Ratchet replied. "The system and groundbridge damage are sure signs that their infestation is well underway."

-.-

Arctic

Optimus climbed down a cliff face, stopping as his sensor went off. "Arcee? What's your status?"

/My sensor's going off. Guess we should call for pick up before things get chilly/

"Optimus to base. Core temperature has reached the blue zone. Prepare to activate groundbridge," he said only to look in the direction of his comm-link confused as all he got was static.

-.-

Base

"Ratchet to Optimus do you read?" Ratchet asked. "We have a situation! …The scraplets have gotten into the comm-link system. If we don't eradicate these vermin immediately, they will reduce the entire base to a scrapheap!"

"I say we book out of here and let them keep it!" Bulkhead said.

"Evacuation is not an option. If we don't get the groundbridge back online, Optimus and Arcee will never make it back," Ratchet said.

"I've already contacted the League about the situation. They said Superman should be there to help them as soon as he can," Robin said and the medic nodded knowing he was referring to the Fortress of Solitude.

"Bulkhead! You never run!" Superboy said.

"You haven't seen a swarm of these things devour someone. I have. They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small juicy pieces first, vein by vein, circuit by circuit! Till there's nothing left! And I mean nothing!" Bulkhead snarled. "…Not even your bones."

"You have to let us help," Kaldur said.

"We're not made of metal," Megan said.

"Yea, the scraplets can't hurt us," Wally said.

"Typically, I find your lack of protective metal to be your least engaging quality. But it seems to be an advantage under these extremes," Ratchet said.

"Good, we can pair off, one Bot two people," Kaldur said. "Megan and I can watch you back as you repair the groundbridge."

"And we go on a bug hunt," Emerald said as the other two shuddered.

-.-

Arctic

"Optimus to base. Do you read?" Optimus tried again. A pained grunt reached his audios, turning he saw Arcee fall to her knees and helped her up.

"Are you sure a nice long drive wouldn't help?" Arcee asked.

"The nearest temperate climate is too distant Arcee. Attempting to reach it would expend too much energy and hasten the freezing process. Until Ratchet sends help, and he will, our best bet is to seek shelter and insulate ourselves," the Prime responded.

-.-

Base

"We get to be your body guards for once, how awesome is that?" Wally asked as he and Superboy walked in front of Bulkhead.

"Robin said they found the first one here, right?" Bulkhead asked just as the lights went out. "AHHHH!"

"Did you just scream like a little girl?" Wally asked as Superboy rubbed his ears.

"Uh no…maybe…can we talk about this later?" Bulkhead growled as they continued. Hearing scuttling, he jumped slightly, aiming his blaster around nervously.

"Take it easy," Superboy said finding the large man's fear unsettling.

At that moment, more scuttling sounded and Bulkhead fired at the roof. Dozens of cables fell on him and he began screaming a flailing wildly. "OH MY GOD! GET THEM OFF ME! AHH!"

Wally slowly raised his camera and snapped a picture. "Bulkhead, you're fine it's just a bunch of cables," he said.

"Oh…right, cables," Bulk said calming down and pulling down on one. The cable fell and scraplets began to land on him. "AHHH!"

-.-

In another part of the base, Emerald, Robin, and Bumblebee peered around a corner. "Don't these things ever stop eating?" Robin grumbled as they walked over to the vent cover that was clearly eaten through. Going to the cover, 'Bee nudged them out of the way and ripped it off, they all aimed their weapons inside, but slowly turned around as clanking came from behind them. The vent on the floor was hurled off as a horde of the small beasts lunged out.

-.-

"How's it going?" Aqualad asked as Ratchet continued working.

"I've repaired the damage conductors, rerouted the central conduits, but the groundbridge still won't receive power!" the medic said slamming his fist down in frustration.

Hearing scuttling the two teens looked around. On the wall, a small group of scraplets crawled before looking up and seeing the medic. They hopped off the wall with their massive jaws open wide and had small wings flapping rapidly behind them.

"They fly?!" Miss Martian exclaimed as she shot into the air. Using her telekinesis, she forced some to crash into each other as Aqualad used water whips to take out more, but even then, some managed to slip through to attack the medic. "RATCHET!" She forced them off, but they just kept coming back at him.

"FIRE EXTINGISHER!" Ratchet pointed.

Running over, Aqualad pick up the red canister before pulling the pin and spraying the small animals. As they froze the small bodies fell off and Ratchet sighed in relief.

"Ratchet, get the patch kit," Bulkhead said as the others stumbled in. "'Bee and I are leaking energon like—WHOA!"

The flying demons shot towards the fresh meat. Bulkhead punched the ground hoping to crush them, but stopped once he realized he was still being gnawed at. He screamed as 'Bee fell backwards as he tried to get them off. Emerald and Robin immediately began attacking the small creatures on their friend; Superboy and Kid Flash rushed to help Bulkhead as Megan and Kaldur dealt with Ratchet's.

-.-

Arctic

"Arcee, wake up!" Optimus ordered as he noticed his SIC was falling asleep in their small shelter.

"J-Just resting my eyes," she replied looking up tiredly.

"The longer we remain alert, the longer we remain alive," Prime informed.

"What do you suggest? Wait…how about a game?" she offered. "Let's play: Who Screwed Thing Up Back at Base."

"Our predicament could be the result of a simple malfunction," Optimus stated.

"Caused by Bulkhead!" the woman declared. "Let's see…no comm-link, maybe even no power. The Big Lug probably tripped over a cord; he's never been too graceful. Remember when we first arrived on Earth, and he walked into those powerlines? Who knew he could dance like that."

"Bulkhead may be…too large for this world, but his inner strength is without bounds. One should not be measured on size alone."

-.-

Base

"That it?" Wally asked as he removed his goggles.

Around them a giant groan sounded throughout the base. "Hardly," Ratchet sighed, "these were just scouts."

 _"_ _Frag,"_ 'Bee groaned setting his head down.

"So the rest of them know you're here?" Robin asked a little worriedly.

"And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus and Arcee will never make it home! We must get the groundbridge operational," Ratchet stated.

"Then we can use it to send the scraplets anywhere on Earth," Emerald said.

"Why not the arctic? We already know they don't do cold," Superboy suggested.

"Given the body mass of the scraplets, subzero temperatures should freeze them on contact," Ratchet muttered. "So, think Ratchet, think! If the groundbridge is still down, then there must be a breach in the energon fuel line!"

"If we weren't breaching, then one of us could go patch it," Bulkhead said as 'Bee tried to get up but fell back in exhaustion.

"Where do we find it?" Aqualad asked.

"And how do we fix it?" Megan added.

-.-

After getting their instructions Miss M, Aqualad, Wally, and Superboy ran down the halls slowing as they came to a hall filled with the vermin that attacked their comrades. "Remember, we're not made of metal," Aqualad reminded.

"Here's the breach," Superboy said carrying the metal plate over. Aqualad helped the clone position it over the breach and Megan got to work. As they finished the patch the scraplets flew past them.

"They're getting ready to feed!" M'gann exclaimed.

-.-

"So, if we get…when we get the groundbridge working; do we send the creepy crawlies out, or bring our guys in?" Bulkhead asked.

"Optimus and Arcee will be fresh meat. If we bring them in first the scraplets will have no reason to leave," Ratchet replied. "We'll need bait."

"Where are we going to get that?! Emerald snapped. "Those monsters already helped themselves to everything in here!"

As she said that, the vents burst open and the Auotbots pressed themselves into the floor staring up at the thousands of techno-organic eating monsters flying above them.

"You just had to say something," Wally sighed. "OW!"

"Shut up," she growled as he rubbed his cheek.

-.-

Arctic

Optimus and Arcee lied close together, partially covered in snow as their energy began to slowly die out. "You know the worst part about this?" Arcee asked. "After battling Cons all these years; being shot at, smacked down, blown up; _this_ is how our sparks go out?"

"Arcee," Optimus said struggling to lift his head. "This may not be the finish that we had planned…but if this indeed the end…if we are to become one with the All-Spark…"

"It was an honor to serve with you, Optimus Prime," she said taking his hand.

-.-

"RATCHET ALL SYSTEMS GO!" KF shouted as he ran in. Emerald flew over and used a makeshift claw to activate the bridge.

On the other side of the bridge Optimus slowly looked up in relief to see the glowing blue vortex. Slowly getting to his feet he helped Arcee to hers.

Back in the base Bulkhead looked between a downed Ratchet, and a probably unconscious Bumblebee. "Bait huh?" he muttered rising to his feet and started waving at the little pests. "Ready for the main course? WELL COME AND GET IT!" He began running through the bridge, much to the team's horror.

Optimus and Arcee slowly stumbled towards the bridge, neither able to stay up on both feet for very long. Seeing a familiar figure Optimus sighed as he saw Bulkhead coming to help.

"GET DOWN!" the wrecker shouted before falling into the snow himself, allowing the scraplets to pass overhead.

Seeing the incoming projectiles, Prime used his own exosuit to shield Arcee, both flinching back as the frozen scraplets collided off them.

"Sorry I'm late!" Superman said flying over as the clouds began to clear. Looking around he saw all three Autobots looking at him irritatedly and there was a gigantic pile of small creatures around them. "What did I miss?" Bulkhead just ignored the Boy Scout and put Prime's arm over his shoulder. Getting the memo, Superman flew over to Arcee and tried to support her much like Bulkhead, but due to the exosuit he had a hard time figuring it out.

Getting back in base Ratchet had Arcee transform out of her armor before having the Man of Steel set her on one of the medical berths and attach a defroster to her as he finished attaching an IV, energon bag, blood bag, an oxygen mask, and several monitors to Bumblebee. He then attached an IV to Bulkhead, before checking on how well Optimus and Arcee were warming up.

The Prime sat wrapped in more blankets than he'd ever care to be in again near his son's bed, as Bulkhead and the team leaned on the wall behind him. "Superman, how is Arcee's bio-circuitry status?"

"It's rising."

"Emerald, keep a close eye on Bumblebee's electro-pulse monitor. Wally, check Bulkhead's distal brachial stitching," Ratchet ordered.

"It's steady," Emerald said as Optimus discreetly peered at it.

"Looking good here Doc," Kid smiled.

"Perhaps you should get some rest yourself old friend," Optimus said as the doctor sat down next to him. "You saved quite a few lives today."

"It wasn't all my doing," Ratchet answered. "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened in summer."

"Our human friends may not have the same abilities as us, but they are strong," Optimus agreed.

"AHHHHHH!" Emerald screamed kicking the side of 'Bee's bed making him wince as he curled up slightly and glared at her angrily through half-lidded eyes.

"Scraplet!" Robin and Wally said holding crowbars.

"SPIDER!" she screamed flying off.

As she flew off her cousin dropped his bar as he walked off, while the others just stared after.


	12. New Arrival

Chapter 11

 **A/N: the only thing I own is this story and any future OCs. Emerald Lantern is not mine.**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _/comm link/_**

 ** _"'_** ** _Bee's communication"_**

July 30 Autobot base

"I vote we do some dune bashing!" Wally said.

"I don't know, last time I spent a week getting sand out of my articulators," Bulkhead frowned. "I heard there was a monster truck rally here in town."

"Optimus," Ratchet called. "I'm getting a signal on a restricted band. It seems to be coming from a starship inside this solar system." He typed in a few things before turning around. "It's an Autobot identification code."

"So there's others out there?" Robin asked.

"The masses scattered across the galaxy when Cybertron finally went dark. But Cons have been known to bait traps using false beacons," Arcee stated.

Optimus went up to the scanners and spoke into the comm. "This is Autobot Outpost Omega 1, identify yourself."

/I've had warmer welcomes from Decetpicons/ a voice scoffed.

"Wheeljack? You old Con-crusher, what're you doin' all the way out here?" Bulkhead asked walking forwards with a big grin plastered to his face.

/Bulkhead? That you? What's with all the security?/ Wheeljack asked.

"The rock we're on is crawlin' with Cons. How soon can ya get here to even the odds?"

/By tomorrow, if a put metal to the pedal/

"New guy's coming in how cool is that?" Wally asked.

"Wheeljack?" Optimus said looking thoughtful. "I know of him by reputation only…can you verify his voiceprint?"

"He's the real deal," Bulkhead responded.

Nodding the Prime turned back to the console. "We will send you landing coordinates. Safe journey."

"See ya soon buddy! I'll make sure you get a proper welcome!" Bulkhead just as the call ended.

"So who's the boyfriend?" Arcee asked.

"Me and Jackie go way back; we were part of the same war unit, the Wreckers! The cons are going to wish he never found us."

"Bulkhead, I'm pretty sure our new ally would appreciate having a room prepared by the time he gets here," Optimus said as he sent a message to Fowler and Batman about their new ally.

"Right sir! On it!" Bulkhead said taking off. "You kids wanna help?"

"Sure," Superboy shrugged.

"I'm in!" Wally smiled.

"No thanks," the others said simultaneously.

-.-

Nemesis

"A war hero hmm?" Starscream said as Soundwave finished replaying the intercepted feed and pulled up the image of the man. "We don't have much time. Makeshift!" A man walked over and looked at the image of both the man and his vehicle armor before changing shape to match. "I too know how to prepare a proper welcome."

-.-

July 31 Autobot Base

"Wheeljack's ship is approaching the landing zone," Arcee stated.

"Wonder if he's just visiting or going to stay?" Wally asked.

"Who cares!" Erica grinned.

"Groundbridge is ready," Ratchet said just as the console sparked. Slamming his fist down on it, it began functioning again. "Slagging scraplets! The equipment hasn't been the same since the infestation, even with the repairs."

"So why have Wheeljack land half-way around the world, bridging him here, when you could just have him land here?" Aqualad questioned.

"We cannot risk the location of our base. There is a possibility that the Decepticons are tracking Wheeljack's ship," Optimus answered.

"Oh."

"Nervous much?" Superboy asked as he and Wally watched Bulkhead pace.

"Just been awhile since I've seen ol' Jackie; you kids'll love him! We're like brothers! And tonight, we're gonna party!"

"Sweet!" KF said pumping his fist in the air, only to give a girlish cry as an alarm went off. Looking at the scanner they saw five red blips chasing after the Autobot's signal.

"Bogies, closing on Wheeljack's location fast," Arcee growled.

"Con scum!" Bulkhead snarled.

-.-

Egypt

Wheeljack's ship swung back and forth, evading the incoming shots. One vehicon fired, and managed to hit the ship's engines, sending it crashing into the ground. The Cons landed pulling out their weapons. one began advancing towards the smoking wreckage, before a shot came out and he fell over dead.

"If y'all are tryin' to ruin my day, you'll have ta try harder," Wheeljack growled in his vehicle armor, holding out the smoking blaster. Activating the mask he jumped up and knocked one guy out by landing on him. Punching the others away he grabbed one and ripped his arm off, beating him with it, before turning and hitting another with the limb. "Y'all've gone soft on me." Pulling out his two katanas he charged the nearest vehicon.

-.-

Nemesis

"Make the switch, quickly! Before the Autobots arrive!" Starscream commanded.

-.-

Base

"C'mon Ratch! Open up the bridge already!" Bulkhead groaned impatiently. "We're missing all the action!"

"I'll prepare the medbay," the doctor said as he finally got the bridge to work.

"Who for? The Cons?" Bulkhead huffed. "This is Wheeljack we're talkin' about!" Charging forwards he, Arcee, and Bumblebee raced through the bridge. Jumping out with weapons ready they stopped to see him stab through the last Con.

"Ever think I might need a hand?" the new man grumbled.

"What? And spoil the show?" Bulkhead grinned.

"You missed one," Arcee commented as one tried to get up as he walked by, but the man just shot him.

"If this is all ya got, we're in bigger trouble than I thought," the man chuckled.

"JACKIE!" Bulkhead said hugging his brother-in-arms. Behind them Arcee smirked and 'Bee snorted in amusement.

"Watch the finish ya old wrecking ball," Wheeljack said.

The bridge opened up again and the group ran through, transforming into their vehicle modes and hopping out. Behind them the bridge short circuited again and Ratchet grumbled.

"Jackie come 'ere, meet my other best buds, Superboy and Wally," Bulkhead introduced him to the boys. "They can wreck with the best of us."

"Sup?" Wally grinned.

"Y'all keepin' Bulk here outta trouble?" he asked.

"We try, but trouble finds us anyways," Superboy joked slightly.

"We're gonna get along just fine…and who are the other squirts?"

"Oh! This is my cousin Erica! And this is Robin! And this is M'gann! And this is Kaldur!" Wally introduced running quickly between all of them.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Wheeljack turned to see Optimus walking towards him. "Optimus Prime, it's a pleasure."

"Likewise soldier," the Prime nodded. "What have you to report from your long journey?"

"Been bouncin' from rock to rock, searchin' for signs of friend or foe. Now, I find both."

"We are few but strong. We've suffered losses, but we've grown. We're now closely allied with Earth's defenders known as the Justice League, we will work to get you inducted soon enough," Optimus stated.

"I would be honored."

"Then let's get this party started!" Bulkhead said punching his arm.

"Fantastic," Ratchet grumbled putting his headphones over his ears.

-.-

Nemesis

"As soon as Makeshift passed through their groundbridge we lost his signal," Starscream growled as he walked with Soundwave. "The Autobot base is no doubt heavily shielded. However, I have complete faith in Makeshift, our inside man is already inside."

The doors in front of the opened revealing the real Wheeljack hanging a few feet above the floor in stasis cuffs. "Tell Megatron he's fragged in the head if he thinks Bulkhead won't sniff out an imposter!"

"Haven't you heard?! I lead the Decepticons now," Starscream sneered.

"You?" Jackie scoffed. "Ha!"

Starscream snarled and brought his hand back ready to deliver a blow similar to the one that killed Cliffjumper, but he was stopped by Soundwave gripping his arm. "Yes…he may yet be of use," he grumbled dropping his hostage limb as the other man released it. "Makeshift is very good at keeping up appearances, he only needs to fool them long enough to open their groundbridge from within. So I can finally learn the location of their base, and send in my strike-team to annihilate them."

-.-

Autobot Base

By this point most of the other Leaguers had shown up to welcome the new member and a party was in full swing. Most were talking amongst each other, some were watching the videogame tournament going on between the Young Justice team, and the rest were watching the Lobbying contest between Wheeljack, Superman, and Bulkhead.

"That all ya got?" Bulkhead teased as he caught the Man of Steel's toss. He hurled it at Wheeljack, sending him sliding a few feet back with the two-ton metal ball.

"Where's Optimus?" Erica asked as she stood near her—for once—casually dressed best friend.

 _"_ _Dad went for a drive, he'd never really been one for parties,"_ 'Bee answered. _"_ _Guess it's some Prime thing."_

"Guess that means you'll be a stiff when you get your matrix," she snickered.

 _"_ _Primus help me if I become like that if I ever become a Prme."_

Wheeljack lobbed the ball to Superman, but unfortunately the momentum was too much sending the Man of Steel and the ball slamming into Bumblebee—who was caught off guard—and made a dent in wall next to the groundbridge controls.

"I am attempting to perform sensitive calibrations here!" the medic snarled pulling the ball out of the dent and allowing Superman to comedically fall onto the floor face-first. They all saw that behind where he was stuck there was the imprint of another body going deeper into the wall.

 _"_ _Who killed the lights?!"_ 'Bee called from somewhere in there.

"Sorry Doc, guess we're a little charged up," Wheeljack said walking over.

"'Bee?! you ok?!" Robin called.

 _"_ _Other than a bloody nose and a possible concussion I'm fine."_

Pulling out his grappling hook, Robin shot it in and pulled 'Bee out to where he promptly fell to the floor. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

 _"_ _Four."_

"You're good!" he smiled helping him up and handing him a cloth for the bloody nose.

"So ya built this bridge from scratch huh?" Wheeljack said looking at the missive hole in the wall.

"Yes."

"That's quite a feat of engineering Doc."

"I suppose it is," Ratchet said proudly.

"Something wrong with it?"

"I didn't like the way it sounded this last jump. I've put it in shut down for right now," he replied.

"What if you need to use it?"

"We have the Zeta Tubes; besides if I interrupted the defrag process it could cause irreparable damage."

"How long will that take?"

"A few hours if we're lucky."

-.-

Nemesis

"Makeshift still hasn't opened their groundbridge, or otherwise transmitted their coordinates," Starscream growled. "His disguise may be flawless, but even he can't fool the Autobots forever!"

-.-

Base

"So there we were: no communications, low on energon, surrounded by Cons! And what does Wheeljack do?" Bulkhead said telling an old war story as the team eagerly listened in. "Tell 'em Jackie!"

"Uh—well, what I do best."

"He chucks his only grenade smack into the primary heat exchanger!"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," he shrugged.

"The joint went supernova!"

"Awesome," Wally said with a wide grin plastered to his face.

"Yea, I'm still picking shrapnel outta my backside."

"Not surprising considering the size of your backside," Arcee chuckled as 'Bee snorted.

"There it is, Jackie's signature: one grenade, one shot," Bulkhead smiled before noticing that his friend was staring off into space. "Hey? You ok man?"

"Huh?"

"You don't seem like yourself."

"What do you mean?" Wheeljack asked standing up.

"You're quiet."

"Ah, just been stuck in a can too long, figured I should maybe go topside for some fresh air," the Wrecker sighed.

"I've got patrol in the mornin' you can come," he offered.

"Why not now?"

"And break up the party?" the other man scoffed. "C'mon they're lovin' ya! You've gotta tell them about the battle of Darkmount Pass!"

"You tell 'em, you're better at it," he replied. "How about if Wally and Superboy here show me the rest of the base?"

"Sure…"

"Tour starts now!" KF said hopping to his feet. "So've you crashed more Cons than Bulkhead? What's your favorite weapon? Do you like racing…"

"You ok?" Black Canary asked seeing her teammate frown.

"Yea…just, outta sorts, I guess…"

"Don't tell me you're jealous?" Arcee snickered.

"That the guys are making a new friend? C'mon!" he waved them off. "But…something…something's not right about ol' Jackie."

 _"_ _He's been travelling the universe; you haven't seen him in a few millennia. He probably just has rocket lag…and people change ya know."_

"Not Jackie."

-.-

Nemesis

Wheeljack struggled against his bonds loudly, getting the attention of his irritated guard. "You're not going anywhere Autobot!" he snarled shoving his gun in the prisoner's face. As he turned around Wheeljack wrapped his legs around the man's face rolling his eyes. He shot off his gun wildly, one shot hit the console, releasing him, and he quickly snapped the guard's neck. Rubbing his wrists, he began searching for a way off the cursed ship.

-.-

Base

"So that's it," Superboy said as they made their way back to the common room.

"So where's this bunker located, exactly?"

"If we told ya, we'd have to remove your spark!" Wally exclaimed dramatically. Seeing his face, the speedster burst out laughing. "JK! Just outside the city of Jasper, Nevada."

"Any way outta here besides bridging?"

"Why do you ask?" Superboy asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry dude! C'mon this way!"

In another part of the base, the rest of the team and League were listening as Bulkhead spoke. "…Look I know Jackie better than anyone!"

"Hey?" said person said walking in. "What'cha talkin' about?"

"I was just tellin' them about the battle of Darkmount Pass."

"That's one heck of a story."

"Yea, tell it," he snarled.

"Can we go off-roading first?" Wally groaned.

"Stay out of this!"

"Easy Bulk," Flash said a little disturbed on how the usually easy-going guy was being so hostile at the moment.

"Tell it!"

"Fine, you wanna live in the past that's fine by me," Wheeljack snarled back. "The Wreckers were trapped between a Decpticon patrol and a smelting pit. The Cons were vicious, bearing down on us with everything they had. Bulk and I engaged the enemy, left them for scrap. We ended up using their backsides as stepping stones to cross the molten lake. Ain't that how it went?"

"Yea, that's exactly how it went…" Bulkhead growled. "Except for one thing: I wasn't there!" Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the scene, the mentors pulling their protégés behind them. "I'd already left to join up with Optimus! But you wouldn't know that if all you did was access Jackie's public service record!"

"Whoa, wait. What's going—AH!" Superboy squirmed against the giant hand of the imposter's vehicle form that he managed to slide into within that short period of time.

"Stay back, or I'll squeeze him into powder!"

"Decepticon coward! Let him go and face me!" Bulkhead roared.

"Don't fret, plenty of fighting to come."

"Is there a real Wheeljack?!" Wonder Woman asked holding her lasso.

"I expect Lord Starscream is making sport of him."

-.-

Nemesis

"Are you positive that we're at the right coordinates?!" Starscream shouted. Soundwave nodded and the new leader grew even more frustrated. "Then what's taking him!?"

"Maybe they gave him such a warm welcome he got all fuzzy inside and decided to stay," the real Wheeljack snarled from behind in his full vehicle armor.

"Don't you see you're vastly outnumbered?"

"I see some guys who'd enjoy watching me pound you into a bloody pulp," he answered.

"Kill him!"

The soldiers began charging, pulling out his swords he used the blades to deflect the blasts as he ran at them.

-.-

Base

"About time!" Makeshift snarled as the bridge finally activated.

-.-

Seeing that his men were getting beat, Starscream fired a missile from his arm towards the Autobot. It exploded at his feet, sending him flying back. Quickly getting up, he tore through the soldiers and leapt at their commander. Hearing something he turned to see the familiar blue glow of a groundbridge. "Finally."

-.-

"Let's get this party started!"

Behind him the real Wheeljack leapt through, tackling his imposter to the ground. Superboy went flying from his hand, but floated in the air as M'gann telekinetically caught him and set him down on the ground.

"I'd shut that hole before the stink comes through," Wheeljack said.

-.-

"Enter that bridge now!" Starscream commanded spitting some blood out of his mouth. The soldiers charged forwards, but the bridge closed once they got close, making the leader scream in fury.

-.-

Everyone in the room backed away as the two circled each other. Bulkhead summoned his car, but a sword stopped him from getting in to join the fight. "He's mine." The two swordsmen began fighting, the sound of metal clashing resounding throughout the base.

"Which is the real one!" Emerald asked.

"I lost track!"

One managed to knock a sword away from the other, but that one just retaliated with a swing of his own. The other blocked it, but received a vicious knee to his chest plate and one of his swords came out of his hand, getting caught by the defender-turned-offender. He then quickly knocked the other sword away, swept his feet out from under him, holding his own blade over the downed bot.

"That's my Jackie."

"Open the bridge so we can take out the trash," Wheeljack said to Ratchet before turning to Bulkhead. "All yours."

Picking him up, the bridge opened and the Autobot hurled him through with everything he had. The loser slammed into the Cons attempting to come through the portal, sending them all back out just as it closed again.

"Nice lob."

-.-

"Makeshift, please tell me you at least got the location of the Autobot Base?" Starscream growled.

"Yes sir, it's located just outside of—"

Looking down Starscream saw the active bomb tied to the man waist. Behind him, Soundwave opened a bridge under him and fell through, running over Starscream joined him before the silent guy closed it on him just as the grenade exploded.

-.-

Autobot Base

The Young Justice League was sprawled all over the couch and floor catching up on some much needed sleep. Emerald was snuggled between her two best friends, Robin and Bumblebee, both of whom cuddled around her protectively. Aqualad was slumped over in a chair, Megan as sprawled across the couch, and Superboy's arm was held hostage by Wally whom was drooling and muttering something about pirates in his sleep. All of which made great photo-ops for the adult members of the League looking for a little laugh or just a cute little scene to brighten their day.

"Glad that recurring nightmare is over," Ratchet muttered as he enlisted Batman's help to repair the groundbridge controls.

"Now that you're one of us, we need to get a proper vehicle mode for you. I've already got a few ideas," Bulkhead said from where he and Wheeljack stood with Optimus. Superman, and Martian Manhunter.

"About that Bulk, now that my ship's all fixed up, I can't help but wonder what else I may find out there," his friend sighed.

"Of course," he said shaking his head with a sad smile. "You never change."

"Wheeljack, just know that you'll always have a haven here," Optimus said handing him a Justice League card.

"Well, while Jackie may never stay; he always comes back," Bulkhead said hitting his friend on the back.

-.-

Egypt

"There's room for two, even with a backside like yours," he offered as he stood in the threshold of his ship. "We may find some of the old crew."

Bulkhead thought back to the two teen boys that refused to leave him alone sacked out on the floor cuddling. "Sorry Jackie, but my ties are here now. With the team, the League, Kid Flash and Superboy."

"Let them know that if anything happens to my favorite Wrecker I'll becoming after the one responsible," Wheeljack chuckled.

"You mean of something happens to the kids it'll be my head," Bulkhead translated as his friend smiled. "The guys'll love this." Bulkhead pulled out his phone and the two took a selfie, sending the pic to Emerald for her collection. Looking down he found the pin to one of his friend's old grenades. "Souvenir."


	13. Robots Suck

Chapter 12

 **A/N: I do not own YJ or TFP.**

 **/comm-link/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

Metropolis August 3

A school bus drove over a bridge filled with students as the bridge began to destabilize. Two of the support cables broke, landing in the road, forcing cars to slam on their brakes. The bus was hit by a semi forcing it to break through the barrier wall, before it hit another car doing the same to it. A Lamborghini sped up behind the bus and slammed into it, making it start to tip.

Up in Wayne Tower, Bruce Wayne and Orion Pax had stopped their meeting to look outside. Bruce pressed a button on his desk, opening a secret drawer containing his suit as Optimus pulled his armor out of his subspace. Hearing the distinctive blast of the sound barrier breaking they looked to see Superman flying over. Going under the bridge, the Man of Steel pushed the breaking pieces back up and started using his heat vision to weld it back together. Superboy jumped off a building and onto the bridge, making the man holding it up grunt from the sudden jolt. Racing over to the nearest car he pulled it back up to safety.

Superboy then ran towards the school bus and began pulling it back up. It bumped as the front tires hit the bridge making it fly up. He looked up to see Superman holding the bus and setting it safely on the ground. "I had that," he said.

"I didn't want to chance it, as it was, your landing could've destabilized the entire bridge," Superman retorted.

"But it didn't."

"But it could have," he reminded. "We still don't know the limits of your powers."

"Well…maybe, you could help me figure it out," Superboy suggested.

"Optimus and Batman have it covered."

"I know but—"

"Superman," he said answering his comm. "Whoa Arrow slow down. What's attacking? …No, I'm definitely available. Coordinates…acknowledged. On my way. Sorry Superboy…duty calls." And with that the Boy Scout left the forlorn clone behind.

Up in the tower Optimus and Bruce looked at each other. "Your turn," they said simultaneously.

"I called him last time," Bruce said.

"He almost let me freeze to death in the arctic, and didn't arrive until _three hours_ _after_ we called him," Optimus replied. "Your turn."

Sighing Bruce picked up his cell and called. /Already got the alert Bruce/

"I know Clark, but we need to talk."

-.-

Mt. Justice

Aqualad, KF, Miss M, and Robin stood around a holographic air hockey table trying, and failing, to keep up with the high-speed game going on between Emerald and Bumblebee. "C'mon!" Emerald cursed as the puck flew past her hand and into the goal.

"Recognized, Superboy—B08."

"Hey Superboy! How was Metropolis?" M'gann asked as he stormed past.

"Everyone ready for training?" Arcee asked as she, Black Canary, and Martian Manhunter walked in.

"Uncle J'ohn!" M'gann exclaimed flying over to hug him.

"M'gann, I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd stop by to see how you were settling in," he said.

"A few bumps but I'm learning!"

"That's all I can ask."

"Stick around," Black Canary said as she saw Superboy trying to walk off. "Class is in session."

"We consider it an honor to be your teachers and intend to pass on all we can to you," Arcee said.

"Mostly what we've learned from our own mentors," Canary winced as she removed her jacket. "And our own bruises."

"What happened?" M'gann asked worriedly.

"The job," Arcee replied.

"Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting," Canary said before looking to her comrade. "You want to spar first?"

"Sure, I'll need a sparring partner," she said.

"Oh! Oh! Me!" Wally said raising his hand and tossing his banana away. "And after this, I'll show you my moves."

Arcee just smirked and got into a fighting stance, holding back a chuckle as she saw the team pull out their phones to video their spar. Kid Flash got into his own fighting stance, they sat like that for a moment before Arcee lashed out she swung a leg towards his head. Ducking down, Wally was greeted by a fist to his face. Arcee grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder and he laid sprawled on the ground, the word _fail_ hovering above him.

"Oh…hurts so good," he groaned.

"So, can anyone tell me where he went wrong?" Arcee asked.

 _"_ _Oh! He hit on you and had his aft handed to him!"_

"He let you dictate the terms of conflict," Emerald said elbowing her friend.

"Exactly, and by doing that he left himself wide open for my attacks, making it easier for me to manipulate the fight to cover my strengths and expose his weaknesses," Arcee started.

"Please," Superboy scoffed. "While my powers the battle is always on my terms. I'm a living weapon. And this is a waste of my time!"

"Prove it," Canary said challengingly as she stepped in the ring. Arcee stepped out crossing her arms. Superboy glared at her as he got into a fighting stance. He lunged at her, but she just ducked under his arm, sticking out her leg to trip him.

Robin and 'Bee started laughing only to get elbowed by Emerald.

Falling onto his back, he got up almost shaking from rage. "You're angry. Good. Now channel that anger—!" She stopped as the clone lunged again with a roar. Sidestepping, Canary grabbed his arm and used his momentum against him, hurling him over her shoulder and onto her back.

"That's it! I'm done!" he snapped getting up.

"Training is mandatory," Canary said crossing her arms.

/Optimus to cave/ the Prime said appearing on a holo-screen. /Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary/ A picture of an android appeared in the upper corner of the screen. /The attacker had the ability to study then duplicated the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our enemy gained more power with each new combatant/ The video showed the android hurling Manhunter aside before Superman flew at him and got hit with heat vision sending him crashing into Flash. Arcee attacked with her vehicle armor in "puppet mode" only to have the android override her command of it and use it to attack Batman who was tackled out of the way by Optimus. The Prime lifted Arcee's bike and hurled it at their opponent before the video then cut off.

 _"_ _It can copy Cybertronian abilities?!"_

/It would seem so Bumblebee/ Optimus answered. /In the end, it took twelve Leaguers to defeat and dismantle the android/

"Who made it? T.O. Morro?" Robin asked.

/Good guess, but by Red Tornado's and my scans we don't think so/

"The technology bares the signature of Professor Ivo," Martian Manhunter stated.

"Isn't he dead?" Aqualad asked.

"So, we all thought," Arcee said.

"Or hoped," Canary added.

/To make sure the threat is neutralized we have two trucks taking the dismantled parts to two separate STAR Labs in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. There will be four other decoy trucks to confuse any possible thieves; every precaution will be taken on this mission. You will divide into two undercover teams to guard the real trucks/

"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy hissed.

/Superboy/ Optimus said warningly /this is a very important mission. If tech like this was to get into the hands of our enemies only Primus knows the amount damage and loss of life would result from it/ Not getting and answer the Prime continued. /Now, Alpha Team is: Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Miss Martian. Beta Team: is Emerald Lantern, Robin, and Superboy. Bumblebee, your emergency backup should either team be attacked. Ratchet is sending a groundbridge. I suggest rolling out the moment it arrives/ With that he gave a nod and hung up.

The team began to head towards the hangar when Canary put a hand on Superboy's shoulder. "When you're ready, I'll be here," she said as he turned and left.

-.-

Lightfield County

The android parts were squared away within the two trucks and a thumb's up was given to Superman. He nodded and looked into the trees where he could see the team—minus Bumblebee—sitting on their bikes. Feeling like he was being watched, Superboy looked at Superman who just whipped his head away before putting his helmet on.

/STAR Boston is go/

/STAR Manhattan is go/

Green Arrow nodded at Batman who gave the order to move out. The trucks filed out with the team fallowing their cargo close behind. Seeing them go, the League members began to leave. Superman was about to fallow when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Turning he found both Optimus and Batman standing behind him.

"I told you: we need to talk," Batman said.

-.-

"So, if dislike is the opposite of like; is aster the opposite of disaster? You know, instead of things going wrong they go right," Robin said. Superboy didn't answer, but instead glared ahead.

"Clearly you're not feeling the aster, what's wrong?" Emerald asked.

"Canary, what business does she have teaching combat to a guy with super strength?" he growled.

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig, we've all learned that the hard way," Robin commented.

"Yea, I know I've dealt with guys a lot stronger than I am. And besides we're going to need to learn how to take down trained foes, or do you not remember the Decepticon incident?" Emerald pointed out as he sped forwards in anger. Robin looked at her and just shrugged as she shook her head.

-.-

"Do you think Superboy is ok?" M'gann asked. "I wasn't reading his mind I swear, but anger was coming off him in waves."

"Surfed that wave, just give him space," KF said driving up next to the Martian girl. "Me, stick as close as you want."

"He just needs time to calm down, a quiet mission will clear his head," Aqualad stated.

At that moment dozens of robotic, flying monkeys burst out of the corn and latched onto the trucks.

/Robin, Superboy, Emerald! Our truck is under attack!/

/Kinda figured/ Robin answered as the same thing went on with their own truck.

 _/Do any of you require backup?/_ 'Bee asked from his spot back at the Autobot base on standby.

/I think we got it. Em?/ Wally asked.

/We can take them. We'll call if we need assistance!/

 _/…Alright, I have a bad feeling about this, but I will trust your judgement/_

"I hate monkeys," Superboy growled darkly.

"Robot monkeys! Totally Ivo's tweaked style!" Robin said as he and Emerald pressed a button on their bikes.

The back half of Robin's detached, flying through the air shooting lazars at the robotic primates. Emerald jumped off hers, putting on her ring as hers split into two more of what Robin's became. She flew towards the truck making a baseball bat to hit the monkeys with all while shouting: "WHACK THE MONKEY!"

"Hey Supey, switch your ride to battle mode!" Robin said.

"No point!" he said leaping off and onto the truck.

"Or not!" Robin said leaping off and using his grappling hook to get onto the back of the truck.

Pulling out a bat-a-rang he began to stab through the money's as several took out the flying weapons above them.

Superboy hurled several of the monkeys at Emerald, who had decided at somepoint a chain-saw would be more fun, and he crushed another. The deactivated monkey's eyes turned green for a moment before shooting lasers out and hitting him in the face. Screaming out, he held his face as the monkey's lifted him off the ground and into the air. Seeing this Emerald flew up and used a gun to take down the monkey's, as he fell she swooped down and caught him.

"You need to lose some weight!" she huffed as she shot towards the truck.

-.-

Aqualad pulled out his water-bearers and started swinging tow water whips, knocking the monkey's off. Both Miss Martian and Kid Flash ditched their bikes and began to attack the offending animatronic primates.

The monkeys were firing lasers from their eye, cutting an opening in the roof of the armored vehicle, ripping it back the men inside began shooting at them. M'gann flew to the top and used her telekinesis to send them flying off. On the side Kid Flash was busy kicking the ones clinging to the side cutting through off as Aqualad dealt with the ones attached to the back. The Martian girl flew to the front, creating extra arms she knocked the ones clinging to her off, before punching the living daylights out of the ones attacking the windshield. The driver screamed as she flew back up and landed on the roof where KF also screamed the moment he got up to the roof upon seeing the extra extremities. More monkeys poured out of the hole in the roof attacking them as four inside melted part of it away, taking off with the android parts. Seeing this Aqualad stopped and glared after, hoping the others were faring better than they did.

-.-

Robin hopped onto the roof of the moving truck, knocking off the monkeys as he went. Emerald dropped Superboy back down, before she too began attacking the ones assaulting the windshield. Two of the monkeys climbed down and shot out the tires making the car veer out of control.

"Get out!" Robin shouted grabbing the driver. They jumped off the truck and into the baseball-mitt that Emerald had waiting for them. The truck flipped with Superboy still on top. Once it stopped the back exploded and the androids flew out with the parts, leaving the men coughing in the mess. Setting them down, Emerald and Robin began moving the injured out of harm's way before Superboy lifted the truck glaring after the monkeys. Leaping after, he ignored his teammates' calls as he chased after.

/Aqualad to Robin we've lost our cargo, did you—/

/It's gone/ he sighed.

/And so's our partner!/ Emerald huffed.

Superboy continued jumping after when his comm pinged. _/Superboy, send your coordinates, we can help you/_

"I don't need help! Don't want any!" he snarled removing the piece and dropping it.

 _/Superboy? …Kul'vak! He ditched his comm!/_

"Super! Now we can't even track him!" Kid grumbled.

"He's out of my telepathic range," Miss M sighed. "This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"

"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves. The mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled," Aqualad replied.

"That's a great plan, except for the part that we don't know where they're at!" Wally snapped.

 _/Actually we do. Before the parts got sent out, I managed to place trackers on a few of the pieces should any go AWOL/_

"How did you…?"

 _/…Looks like they're at…Gotham City/_

"That far south! M'gann and I will not get there anytime soon. Bumblebee bridge yourself there and wait for Emerald, Robin, and Kid to catch up!"

 _/Aye, aye, el Captain!/_

"This is a disaster," Emerald said as Robin called his bike over.

"Heavy on the dis," he agreed.

-.-

Metropolis

"Apple pie," Clark ordered.

"The Devil's Food," Bruce said.

"Same," Orion ordered handing the waiter their menus.

"Something tells me this isn't about dessert?" Clark said looking between the two imposing men before him.

"The boy needs you," Orion stated frankly.

"No, need you. He needs Red; I'm just a constant reminder of what he's not," Clark replied.

"Sorry Clark, but you're dead wrong," Bruce said. "We know he troubles you, but he's here. You need to get over the how and the why. Trust me, this boy needs his father."

"I'm not his father!" Clark growled standing up.

"You can deny the truth all you want, but that does not change the facts Clark," Orion said. "Believe me, I know."

Shrugging off his ominous words, Clark put on his hat. "I'll take that pie to go," he said going to pay as the two fathers looked after and shook their heads.

-.-

Gotham City

The monkeys flew into a train car with the crates. Superboy jumped onto the roof and tore through it glaring at a red-headed man in a sweater-vest and casual pants. "You? You're Ivo? I'm whelmed," he scoffed.

"You're one to talk; since when does the big, blue boy scout have a brat?"

"He doesn't!"

"If you say so," the man chuckled. "Have you met my Mobile Optimum Neural Quotient Infiltrators?" Most of the MONQIs flew at him, but he used his fist to dismantle all of them. "And I spent so long trying to find an acronym for monkey."

"Access: Captain Atom." A white light slammed into him, sending Superboy flying back.

"Since Professor Ivo's Magnificent MONQIs don't float your boat, perhaps my Amazing Amazo will better suit you…or better slay you."

A tall, green android with red eyes stepped out gazing down at the young clone. "Give it your best shot," Superboy taunted wiping away some blood on his lip.

"Please; my android has the strength to fight both Superman and Optimus Prime at the same time, what chance do you have?"

Superboy lunged forwards attacking the bot. the machine just took all the hits, showing to have the flexibility of Martian Manhunter as he punched the face, but the neck just turned all the way around. As he went for another punch, the robot grabbed his hand, slowly squeezing down on it.

"Sorry, did that strike a nerve?" Ivo sneered. "Amazo, strike a few more!"

Superboy was punched into the wall, landing on the floor he saw the android staring at him. "Access: Black Canary," he said as his jaw unhinged and it released that very superhero's cry. "Access: Flash" running up with his speed Superboy was punched repeatedly.

Falling to the ground Ivo laughed. "No wonder daddy doesn't let you out much, you're not doing justice to the old S shield are you?"

"Access: Martian Manhunter," Amazo said as Superboy's fist went through him, before punching him back through the crate wall and onto the next open cart. "Access: Optimus Prime." Superboy found himself being lifted by the front of his shirt. Amazo punched him, sending the teen flying into a preppy school in the middle of the city.

"Finish him, Priority: Alpha," Ivo shrugged.

"Access: Superman," the android said flying away.

-.-

Robin drove into the city limits of Gotham now in his normal uniform while Emerald flew right above him. Beside them KF finally joined them. "So, you changed too?" Robin asked.

"Yea, are you kidding? I feel naked in civies," he shivered. "'Bee still tracking the parts?"

 _"_ _Yea,"_ he said driving up next to them, nearly making Kid trip.

"Dude! How on earth are you so quiet and stealthy in that thing?!"

"So where are they now?" Emerald asked.

 _"_ _They were going through Gotham, but they veered to a place called: Gotham Academy."_

"That's my school!" Robin gaped as Emerald laughed.

-.-

Superboy was hurled into a trophy case, before he was picked up again and tossed into the lockers. Getting up he saw one with a picture of Superman with little hearts surrounding him. He made an extra effort to punch that one. Try to attack again he was hurled through two walls, ending up on the gym floor. Hearing clapping, he looked up to see the professor sitting in the bleachers.

"I don't normally attend these things, but this was too good to miss."

"Access: Optimus Prime." Amazo ran forwards and slammed Superboy down onto the ground. He raised his fists to crush the teen when a red and yellow blur snatched him up. "Martian Manhunter." He density shifted as a bright green hammer swung down, going through him. "Access: Red Tornado." He flew up surrounded by red, swirling winds.

Getting close to the teens he hurled them back, Wally was tossed into a wall, Superboy and Robin landed in the bleachers, only Bumblebee and Emerald evaded the attack because they were up in the rafters. "Access: Superman." Red lasers shot out of his eyes, towards Kid, but he was yanked up by a green rope depositing him on the other side of the room. Emerald flew at him, a giant baseball bat ready to swing. "Access: Black Canary." Releasing the cry, the young lantern was hurled back into her cousin. "Superman." He punched Superboy into the bleachers, Bumblebee attacked from behind, Amazo grabbed his arms and hurled the Cybertronian over his shoulders towards a wall. Flipping in the air 'Bee bounced off the wall and rolled to his feet. "Martian Manhunter." 'Bee and Robin both tossed explosives towards the machine, only for him to use extra-long arms to smack them out of the air. "Superman."

Superboy crawled out of the dent he made in the bleachers, he saw Robin, Emerald, and KF on the floor in the corner and Bumblebee was busy keeping heat rays from burning his face off.

Ivo yawned in boredom as he watched, so far, the only interesting thing was the Cybertronian and Lantern, but that was only because it gave him the opportunity to study the pair more. "Normally Amazo would study your abilities and copy them, but what's the point? You're all such poor copies of the originals."

"So everyone keeps saying…IT MAKES ME ANGRY!" Superboy shouted flying at the professor instead of the machine. "WANNA SEE HOW I CHANEL THAT ANGER?!"

"Great he's gone ballistic again!" KF said.

"Maybe not," Emerald smirked.

"Amazo! Protect your master! Priority: Alpha!" Ivo said as he dodged another incoming attack.

Turning off the lasers he fired at Bumblebee he turned to look at the clone. "Captain Atom." Sticking out his hand he fired a light ray at Superboy.

"Anyone wanna play keep away?" Robin asked as he kicked Ivo into Emerald's waiting cannon. Firing him, 'Bee knocked him out of the air, and Kid sprinted towards the professor. "Access: Optimus Prime." Slamming his foot down, he sent a shockwave through the floor that sent Wally flying into his cousin. Bumblebee pulled out his whip and swung it towards the robot. "Martian Manhunter." The whip phased through the android, who noticed that Superboy was charging towards him. "Superman." He slammed the clone aside and caught Kid Flash's leg as he attempted to use the distraction to ambush him from behind. Putting him into a hug, the android started to try to crush him.

An arrow flew down from the ceiling towards Amazo. "Martian Manhunter." The arrow passed harmlessly through him, but made him drop Kid in the process. "Superman." Seeing an opportunity Superboy ran over and impanted his fist in his head as he turned back to normal. The android fritzed out as the fist in its head blacked the systems, before the head exploded.

"We need to disassemble him!" Robin said as he and 'Bee got to work.

"He has no head," Wally scoffed.

"We can't take any chances," Aqualad said as he and Miss Martian finally arrived.

"Superboy? Are you ok?" the Martian girl asked.

"Fine, feeling the aster," he said looking at Emerald and Robin who smiled back.

"Where's Ivo?!" Wally snapped as they all looked around to find him gone.

"Uh oh," Emerald said as her phone rang. Pulling out she answered. "Hello? This is she…wait…what?" she said her smile fading and a look of horror coming upon her face. "No! It can't be true! Are you sure it's them?!" The team stopped what they were doing to stare at her, when the tears started flowing they knew something was wrong, horribly wrong. She cried out dropping the phone and falling to her knees as her suit color changed to a bright red and black mix. Before anyone could ask what was wrong she flew off. They looked at Wally and Bumblebee whom nodded and chased after her, all worried out of their minds.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"The Amazo Android is in pieces again, safely being studied at the two Starr Labs," Aqualad reported. "But Ivo escaped and since he originated the tech, he's arguable more dangerous than the android."

"Capturing Ivo will be a League priority," Arcee stated.

"But we understand your mission encountered…. other, complications," Black Canary said.

"Complications come with the job," Batman said. "Your ability to handle them has impressed the League."

"The whole League?" Superboy asked.

"In time: yes," Optimus said with a sympathetic look. "As you know, Kryptonians have very hard heads."

At the comment Superboy smiled slightly, the image of Prime tossing Superman around a room reciting some ancient Cybertronian code of parenthood came to mind.

"There's no shame in asking for help, that's why the League exists," Batman continued. "Because even there's some problems that even we cannot handle alone."

"Please!" Robin scoffed. "If we needed help you'd never give us the chance!" He pulled out an arrow with green feathers. "You were spying on us! Babysitting! You still don't trust us!" Green Arrow pulled out his own and Robin stopped his rant. "That's not your arrow. So that leaves Speedy! Good to see he still has our backs!" Walking up he held out the arrow he grabbed for Wally, Emerald, and 'Bee as a souvenir.

Superboy cautiously walked up to Black Canary and Arcee. "I'm ready."

"Good, cause we're here," Black Canary said with a soft smile.

"Hey Batman?" M'gann said raising her hand. "What happened to Emerald?"

The adults went quiet, looking at the two commanders of the team. Optimus stepped forwards looking solemn. "Unfortunately, Erica's parents were involved a bridge collapse earlier today. They didn't make it."


	14. New Member

Chapter 13

 **A/N: I know I'm horrible, but what can I say? Cliffies are fun! Anyways, as usual I own nothing, blah, blah blah.**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee speaking_**

 **/comm-link/**

Infinity Island, August 7

A guard stood out on the beach when a red-feathered arrow hit his chest and electrocuted him. Speedy raced past the unconscious guard towards the manor on the small island. Shooting a grappling hook, he climbed up the walls and ran onto the plaza hiding in the shadows. Aiming an arrow for the camera, he fired; once it landed a small pulse was emitted putting it onto a continuous loop. Firing two more arrows, he shot down the guards.

In a secure room, a young woman sat on a computer typing away.

"We're losing patience: complete the project, or forfeit your life," a voice threatened over the intercom.

"I'm working as fast as I can," she replied.

There was a knock at the door a guard moved to open it, but it was slammed down on top of him. The other guard went to attack the ex-protégé, but was quickly taken out by a series of quick hits with the bow and a solid punch to the face.

"Dr. Roquette?" Speedy asked.

"Tell me you're the advance guy?"

"The only guy," he replied notching an explosive arrow towards the wall.

"You couldn't bring back-up? What? Were there budget cuts?" she scoffed.

The bells began ringing, and Roy let the arrow fly, making the wall explode. "Now or never Doc."

"I can't leave this," she said motioning to a cylindrical object next to her.

"I take it, or I take you!" he growled.

"Right take me."

He shot a line to the beach, grabbed the doctor and slid down just as the guards ran in and started shooting. Dropping down, they ran towards the water where Roy uncovered a boat. Pushing it out they swung in and he started to drive.

"What do you call this? The Arrow Boat?"

"I call it a rental now get down!" he snapped pressing a button on the controls that activated a series of bombs he placed around the beach. The beach exploded behind them, and he glanced back to make sure they weren't being pursued. "We're clear."

"Great, now only one problem…"

Back on the island an older man with red robe exposing a scar on his chest, grey hair, and a scar on his faced looked down at another man with a silver helmet that had one single red eye in the middle. "Well?"

"She finished. We're good to go."

-.-

Mt. Justice August 8

M'gann ran out onto the cave's secluded cove staring out towards the water with a boogie-board and in a yellow bikini that did not match her green skin what so ever. "Hello Megan! We should hit the beach every day!" she said turning back to her teammates. They guys were in basic swim trunks, but 'Bee had a wet suit for surfing and to cover his scars.

"First, a moment of silence for absent comrades," Robin said.

"Poor Erica and Wally," she sighed. They had just attended the funerals of Erica's parents yesterday, and the poor cousins were extremely depressed, as were their closest friends. Now, on top of it, their school year started today.

-.-

Central City

Wally and Erica sat next to each other for their first class. the normally hyperactive speedster looked like he'd rather die than be there and his usually energetic cousin was dressed darkly and abnormally quiet.

"Welcome class, to the first day of the school year."

-.-

Robin and Megan were splashing each other as Kaldur stood off to the side watching. Superboy cannonballed between them, soaking them; further out Bumblebee sat on a surfboard looking for another wave, preferring to spend some time to himself. After a bit, they came in for hot dogs.

"'BEE! HOT DOGS!" M'gann called.

Paddling back in he laid his board down and shook out his hair. Sitting down he grabbed a few and began eating.

Robin noticed something peeking out of 'Bee's wet suit, looking over he quickly pulled down the zipper to see symmetrical black markins starting just below his hairline and expanding across his back. "Dude, Prime let you get tattoos?"

Bumblebee shook his head as he haistily rezipped his suit.

"They aren't tattoos?"

'Bee nodded.

"I did not know you had tattoos similar to my own my friend," Kaldur said. "Are yours also of similar origin?"

'Bee shook his head, since he failed to bring his phone and his modulator out to the beach he looked around and grabbed a stick. _"_ _I was born with them."_

"Sweet, you know, they kinda remind me of that one guy's tattoos from that movie…what was it…Divergent!" Robin grinned before he was hit in the head by a beach ball. They guys turned to see the Marian girl standing next to a volleyball net. Going over, they got into teams: Superboy and Bumblebee vs Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Robin.

After playing ball for a while, Megan and Kaldur were trying to bury Superboy in sand, while 'Bee was out trying—and failing—to ditch Robin so he could go back to being an antisocial surfer for a while.

-.-

In gym, Erica hurled a dodgeball at her cousin, hitting him smack in the face, before he was pelted by a series of others from her and the rest of her team.

The bell finally rang and the two cousins sprinted out of the school as fast as they possibly could.

-.-

"Recognized: Kid Flash—B03, Emerald Lantern—B02," the computer announced as they Zetaed in. Wally was dressed in full out beach gear as Erica was already in her Lantern uniform, except, it was black.

"We are here! So let's get this party star—!" he was cut off as he tripped and fell. The beach ball bounced between an unamused Batman and Optimus as he noticed that the rest of the team was in uniform. "—ed."

"Wall-man huh? Love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?" a girl with ridiculously long golden hair, brown eyes, tan skin, and dressed in a two-piece green uniform holding a bow with arrows strapped to her back.

"Who's this?" he asked getting up.

"Artemis, your new teammate," she replied smugly.

"Kid Flash, never heard of you," he said. "And this is my cousin: Emerald Lantern."

"Not much emerald," the new girl muttered.

"She's my new protégé," Green Arrow stated.

"What happened to your old one!"

"Recognized: Speedy—B05."

"Well for starters he doesn't go by Speedy anymore," the ex-sidekick stated. "Call me Red Arrow."

"Roy," GA said in shock. "You look…"

"Replaceable."

"It's not like that; you told me you were going solo," his former mentor answered.

"Why waste time finding a sub? Can she eve use that bow?"

"Yes, she can," Artemis growled defensively.

"Who are you?!" Wally snarled.

"She's/I'm my/his niece," they said.

"Another niece?" Robin scoffed.

"But she's not your replacement," Aqualad stated. "We've always wanted you on the team; and we have no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick!" Wally reassured.

"Whatever Baywatch, I'm here to stay," she snickered.

"You came to us for a reason: why?" Emerald spoke up from where she stood quietly between her two best friends.

"Yea, a reason named: Dr. Sterling Roquette."

"Nanorobotics and Claytronics expert from Starr City. Went missing two weeks ago," Robin said pulling up her file.

"Abducted two weeks ago, by the League of Shadows."

"You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?" Robin asked.

"Hardcore," KF agreed.

"Already did. But not before they already coerced her into creating a weapon," he said pulling up a file he brought. "She calls it: The Fog. It's comprised of millions of microscopic nanobots, capable of dissolving anything in its path: concrete, steel…flesh. But its true purpose isn't mere destruction, it's theft. The Fog eats and stores raw data from any computer system, then delivers the stolen intel to the Shadows. Providing access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science and tech."

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking; yea, sounds like the Shadows," Artemis groaned.

"And how would you know?" Kid scoffed as she just smirked. "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Roquette's working on an antivirus to render the Fog inert," Roy stated.

 _"_ _If the Shadows know she can do that, they'll try to kill her."_

"Right. Currently, I have her of the grid. I stashed her at the local high school computer lab."

 _"_ _Not exactly what I call off the grid."_

"You left her alone?" GA gasped.

"She's safe enough for now!" he retorted.

"Then let us keep her that way."

"Us? As in you and me? Or you, me, and her?" he sneered.

Arrow began to step towards his old apprentice when a dark clad hand stopped him. "You brought this to the team; this is their mission now, meaning it's now hers too."

0"Than my job's done," he scoffed going towards the Zeta Beam.

"Recognized: Speedy—B05."

"That's Red Arrow—B05, update!" he corrected as he teleported out.

-.-

The team was stationed regularly throughout and around the high school. Miss Martian, Bumblebee, and Superboy guarded the outside, inside with the doctor the others stood on guard.

 _"_ _Miss Martian, link us up. I do not want the Shadows to intercept our comms,"_ Aqualad ordered.

" _Everyone online?"_

 _"_ _Ugh, this is so weird,"_ the archer commented.

 _"_ _And distracting. Coding an algorithm for a counter virus on a computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. But now I have to hear teen think in my skull?!"_

 _"_ _Lady, do you always complain this much when someone tries to help you?"_ KF asked.

 _"_ _Pot, Kettle, have you met?"_

 _"_ _Hey! I don't not want to hear attitude from the one who drove Red Arrow off the team!"_

 _"_ _That is so not my fault!"_

 _"_ _Fate of the world at stake!"_

 _"_ _She started it!"_ Kid whined.

 _"_ _Enough!"_ Bumblebee commanded. _"_ _End it now or I'll come in there and end it for you."_

 _"_ _How about I just go help them outside?"_ Artemis suggested starting to leave. _"_ _I need to get out of this depressing atmosphere that gloomy girl is giving off."_

 _"_ _What was that?"_ 'Bee growled darkly. The archer didn't respond due to the fear that he would carry out his threat. _"_ _Thought so."_

 _"_ _Cut her some slack, it was her arrow that saved you from Amazo,"_ Robin mentioned.

 _"_ _No! that was Speedy—er, Red Arrow's arrow…right?"_ Wally exclaimed.

 _"_ _Sorry dude,"_ the Boy Wonder shrugged before slowing moving over to Emerald. "How ya doing?" he whispered.

"As fine as I can be, I guess," she shrugged, her uniform making her almost invisible in the darkness.

"If you need someone to talk to I'm here," he offered.

"Thanks," she nodded.

Wally didn't notice the small exchange between his best friend and his cousin. _"_ _Well, I'm still not giving her the satisfaction!"_

 _"_ _She can still hear you,"_ Emerald reminded.

 _"_ _Wow, gloomy girl speaks."_

 _"_ _I couldn't get the Justice League!"_

 _"_ _The virus will not be of much use if we cannot track the weapon,"_ 'Bee stated trying to put things back on track.

 _"_ _My Utility Fog is not a weapon! It's science, brilliant science! And of course I can track it, but I have to go online. Might as well write a sign saying, 'assassinate me' in neon."_

Aqualad placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder for reassurance. _"_ _We will protect you."_

 _"_ _Tracking Fog now."_

-.-

Philadelphia

"Roquette has surfaced to track us," the cyclops guy said over a communication to his boss, "but that link's a two-way street. Sending her location now."

/…Who do we have near…Happy Harbor, Rhode Island?/

-.-

Happy Harbor

In the back Superboy and 'Bee were standing watch when they both heard rustling in the bushes. "You hear that?" the clone whispered getting a silent nod from his partner. Turning around the pair jumped over the school, landing next to Miss M and Artemis before they went separate directions to check the sides.

As they began going around again the new girl found herself looking both over. _"_ _Mmmm, those boys."_

Superboy stopped and glanced back as 'Bee just opted to ignore the comment and continue his patrol. _"_ _They can hear you!"_ M'gann glared. _"_ _We can all hear you."_

 _"_ _I know."_

 _"_ _Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the Fog. Reconfigure the Bioship so Bumblebee, Robin, and Superboy can pursue,"_ Aqualad ordered.

The ship landed and the three boys ran inside before the ship took to the air and took off. Once they were gone, the two girls went back to their positions in front of the doors. _"_ _You embarrassed Superboy!"_ Megan growled.

 _"_ _Didn't hear him say that. And what about Bumblebee? Didn't embarrass him as you put it?"_ the archer sneered.

 _"_ _Must you challenge everyone?!"_

 _"_ _Where I come from, that's how you survive."_

As they argued neither saw the person silently hop over the fence and run around a corner.

Inside Emerald leaned against the wall in the room before her ring flashed. _"_ _We've got company."_

 _"_ _Oh, so little miss gloomy finally decided to come out of her little depressed shell."_

 _"_ _Leave her alone!"_ Wally snarled _._ Turning his head, he saw a shadow retreat. Sprinting down the hall he saw it go into the pool. Racing in, he slipped on a bunch of small marble-like balls, falling flat on his back. looking up, he saw a foot coming down at him before everything went dark. The attacker pushed him into the pool before continuing to make her way to the good doctor's room.

The door opened slightly and a shrunken flew out, jumping in the way, Aqualad took one to the shoulder as the assassin sent three more, but they were blocked by his arm. "That had to hurt," the assassin said as she ran in.

"Atlantian skin is quite dense," he said making swords with his water-bearers, deflecting her blows.

"But my shrunken are quite poisonous," she sneered before getting sent flying back.

"Jellyfish toxin, I'm largely immune," he retorted. _"_ _M'gann, Kid, Artemis, we're under attack in the computer lab!"_

 _"_ _On our way!"_ Artemis said as she and Miss Martian made their way to the lab. Stopping, Miss M whipped around to help KF.

"Come with me!" Emerald said grabbing onto the doctor's arm.

Seeing them about to leave, she sent one of her daggers at Roquette. Emerald whipped around and created a shield, keeping the knife from reaching its target. "Almost," she said headbutting Aqualad, sending him to the ground. She was about to hurl another knife when an arrow knocked it out of her hand.

"Don't move," Artemis threatened.

"This gig is getting interesting," she chuckled as Aqualad got back up and Emerald exchanged her shield for a baseball bat. Artemis fired several arrows, which the assassin pulled out a belt, whipped it to it stiffened into a sword, slicing through the arrows. Hearing something, she saw that the Martian and speedster were behind her. "Maybe a little too interesting." Pulling something out, she slammed it onto the ground and smoke billowed up. jumping through, KF rolled to his feet and crashed against the archer before ripping himself off in disdain.

"Gone!" he growled.

"She's getting away! You're letting her get away!" Roquette snapped.

"This is all your fault!" Wally snarled. "You were on perimeter, how'd she get in!"

"That's not fair, I was outside too," Megan reminded.

"Being distracted by her!" he growled. "Besides I can't be mad at you. _You gave me mouth-to-mouth."_

 _"_ _We heard that!"_

"Dang it!"

"I didn't do well in my first battle, and I know you couldn't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for very long," she reassured.

"Focus everyone!" Aqualad said. "The Shadows will be back."

-.-

Philadelphia

Bumblebee drove the ship over to the target only to have him and the others stare in shock as it collapsed. "Robin to Aqualad, we've reached Philadelphia and have located their next target: Starr Labs. We're too late, it's destroyed, completely destroyed, the Fog decimated it," Robin informed.

 _"_ _This is not good. Starr Labs is the head of Earth's cutting-edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy,"_ he frowned behind his mask. _"_ _Orders sir?"_

/Rescan for that fog, find it, we're moving the doctor/

 _"_ _Rodger that, Bumblebee out."_

-.-

Happy Harbor

Kid Flash sat on a bookshelf as Artemis paced in the back glaring at each other.

 _"_ _Stop it_ ," Emerald said.

 _"_ _Stop what?"_

 _"_ _We can hear you glaring."_

Aqualad ran near a tree with Emerald next to him. "Miss Martian, Emerald, make a wide perimeter sweep."

The Lantern nodded and flew off leaving the Atlanian alone.

The moment she left red webbing shot down and yanked him up into the tree. He was hurled into the side of a van parked nearby, making a large dent in its structure. As Aqualad got up, a man in a violet and black uniform hopped out of the tree in front of him, as he got up to fight, another with white hair, and a metal arm flew down from behind, slamming his hooked-hand on the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

"The Martian and Lantern could return any second, and I am not keen on evening their odds, we end Roquette, now!" Cheshire said rushing past them into the building.

The spider-guy came in through the front door, getting off his perch Kid Flash began to figure out how to get him off the ceiling and not get shot by his webbing, Artemis was about to help, when the glass shattered behind her, and the metal-handed man fell through the roof.

"Don't stop working!"

Up in a skylight, Cheshire sat with a crossbow, aiming for the good doctor. The arrow would've hit had a desk not been levitated in the way. "Martian's here! Now or never boys!" she snapped hopping in as the spider-assassin pulled the desk out of the way, swinging it towards the speedster. Roquette began running and the assassin leapt on her with a knife raised, only to balk as her skin turned green and her head did a one-eighty to look at her. "We've been duped!"

-.-

In the window of an internet café, Aqualad peered outside to see if either the team or the assassins were coming. Roquette sat at a computer typing away as the Black Lantern leaned on the wall behind her. "I've almost got it!"

-.-

Philadelphia

"Next target's a Wayne Tech facility," Robin frowned. "In theory, its systems could be used to hack…" He trailed off as Superboy just looked at him confused and 'Bee just smirked slightly behind his mask.

"Hack the what?"

 _"_ _The Base,"_ 'Bee lied. _"_ _The government got some of the tech we have from there."_

Robin tossed him a grateful glance before continuing. "It doesn't matter though; Wayne Tower operates on a twenty-four-hour work-force! We'll never evacuate the building in time!"

-.-

Happy Harbor

"You'll never find Dr. Roquette!" Miss Martian declared transforming back into herself.

"Never's such a long time," Cheshire said smoothly. "Pursuing target! Keep them busy!"

"Pursuing their leader! Take the rest down!" Artemis said giving chase.

"You're so not the boss of me!"

"Just do it!"

"I do not like being played," the assassin snarled as she activated the heat sensors on her mask, picking up the residue left by Aqualad as he went to the secondary location. She began to run down the street as Artemis turned around the van. Notching an arrow, she fired, Cheshire whipped around, slicing the projectile out of the air with her blade. "I was hoping it'd be you!" She leapt onto the roof, and the archer fallowed, as she landed on one and arrow sprouted from the chimey next to her, releasing a gas, making her cough and pass out. Artemis landed next to her, aiming another arrow should she decide to move. A leg swept out and swiped her feet from under her, and behind her mask, Cheshire was grinning. "Mask has built in filters." Artemis jumped up, attempting to kick her, but she just had her arm grabbed and yanked viciously behind her back. "Better luck next time kid!" Elbowing the teen's back, she fell to the ground, down for the count.

"We've got company!" Emerald said as her ring flashed again.

"Uploading now! And BTW: you said you'd protect me!" Roquette replied.

A ball rolled down the hall, releasing smoke, Aqualad looked down the hall as Emerald watched any other places she could enter just in case it was a trick. Several darts flew out, hitting Aqualad. "Let's test the limits of your jellyfish immunity, shall we?" Cheshire sneered. Aqualad pulled out the darts swinging his own swords at the assassin as Emerald made a large shield to protect herself and the doctor like she was ordered to do. The pair's spar was quickly ended, when the assassin landed a powerful kick to the Atlantian's face, knocking him out cold.

At that point, Emerald dropped her shield and swung a baseball bat spiked with nails towards Cheshire.

-.-

Philadelphia

"It's downloading!" Robin said as the back of the Bioship opened.

Superboy looked down and saw the side of a van opening, revealing a man releasing the fog. "Don't need it!" he said jumping down.

 _"_ _That hot-headed fragging slagger! He's dead when I'm done with him—that's if the fog doesn't kill him first!"_ Bumblebee cursed as he released one of his teammates was throwing themselves towards the very substance they were trying to eradicate.

A red laser-beam shot out of the cyclops' eye, knocking the clone out of the air, he released the fog and it flew towards the building.

"No!" Robin shouted as he hopped down. Putting the ship into a hover, 'Bee jumped down, fallowing his younger teammate into the building.

"You two can't be in here!" a guard protested as they ran in. "UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY!"

"Wayne Tech override RG4!" Robin called and the doors opened back up, allowing the young heroes through.

-.-

Happy Harbor

 _"_ _Kid, we need to end this, now!"_ M'gann said.

 _"_ _It's like you read my mind beautiful,"_ he smirked as the webbing latched onto his shoulder. Spinning, he yanked the assassin towards him, jumped in the air, kicking him in the face, knocking him out once he got close enough.

Hook-man hurled his extendable appendage at the Martian girl, using her telekinesis, she turned it around, making it hit him in the face, bring him down as well. "YES! I GOT MINE!" she cheered.

"Great…" Wally said from where he sat tied up. "Little help?"

-.-

Philadelphia

Robin and Bumblebee ran into the cafeteria where they fallowed the fog to. Sticking out his hand, the Cybertronian began to try to control the billions of microscopic bots, as Robin accessed the computer muttering in frustration.

 _"_ _Hurry up!"_

"I'm going as fast as I can! Why don't you shut down the bots so we can worry less when the virus will get downloaded!" Robin snapped.

 _"_ _Already tried, but tell me: do you know how hard it is to control at least a billion separate drones all at once! Because it is not as easy as I make it look!"_

-.-

Happy Harbor

Cheshire ducked under the deadly baseball bat, barely saving herself from getting skewered by one of the nails. Pulling out a knife, she lunged at the Lantern, only to have herself get thrown into a wall by the shield that was not there a split-second beforehand. A sound came off the computer, and she saw that they had indeed completed a virus and it had already been sent, thus ending her mission.

"Guess I'm done here, who knows, the Shadows may have use for you yet Doctor," she smiled as she ran out. Emerald didn't bother in pursuing because taking care of Aqualad was more important at the moment.

-.-

Philadelphia

Robin grinned as he got the virus file, uploading it, the fog began to turn red and fall to the ground, mostly covering his rather annoyed friend. "The infiltrators have been outfiltrated!" he said pumping his fist in the air.

 _"_ _And now they're infiltrating my armor,"_ 'Bee growled shaking out his hair and armor seams, allowing some of the nanites to fall out, but not all of them. _"_ _It'll take me months to get rid of all of this!"_

"'Bee, you're such a pessimist tonight," Robin said smacking his arm.

 _"_ _Sorry to disappoint you by not being my positive self."_

Outside, Superboy walked against the red beam being fired at him from the man who released the fog. Slowly getting close, he reached out and grabbed the eye, making it short-circuit, have a mild electrocution, blasting him back into the van, knocking him out cold. Looking up he was Robin and 'Bee looking at him; Robin was smirking and he couldn't read his other teammate's expression, but by the way he was shaking his head, he could see 'Bee was mildly amused.

-.-

Happy Harbor

Cheshire was blasted back as the four arrows that landed at her feet exploded, knocking her mask off. "Don't move!" Artemis commanded.

Standing up, she smiled and turned around, revealing a woman who looked a lot like the young archer. "Wow, I'm completely at your mercy," she sneered.

"You…"

"I suppose now you bring me to justice, let your new friends interrogate me, I wonder if your position's secure enough to survive them learning everything I know," she threatened. The new member lowered her bow, and she smiled. "Didn't think so, so like the Cheshire Cat, I'll just disappear." Smoke rolled out from behind her, engulphed her, and just like that, she was gone.

"Where's the assassin," Aqualad asked as he leaned heavily on Emerald's shoulder.

"She got away."

"From you?! Why am I not surprised?!" Wally snarled as he arrived with M'gann holding theirs behind him. "Notice, we got ours." Looking down, he saw the mask the leader was wearing and picked it up. "Cool! Souvenir!"

"Did you see her face?" Emerald asked as she ripped out the darts still attached to Aqualad's frame.

"It was dark!"

"It is fine; Robin, Bumblebee, and Superboy neutralized the fog, captured the one releasing it, and the Doctor is safe. Thanks in no small part to you," Aqualad said, wincing as another dart got yanked out. "Welcome to the team."

"I've always wanted sisters, don't get me wrong, I have plenty on Mars, but it's just not the same as with you and Emerald," M'gann said hugging her.

"I wouldn't know, thanks," she said.

Emerald elbowed her cousin. "Yea welcome," he grumbled and they shook hands.

"Thanks for treating me normally," Emerald said. "Ever since my parents died, everyone's been treating me like I'll break any minute."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Artemis said feeling horrible for all the things she said about her.

"Don't sweat it," she said, smiling for the first time in a while.

-.-

Gotham City

Artemis exited the Zeta Port, sensing something, she whipped out an arrow and aimed it down the alley where Red Arrow stepped out. "Nice move, almost made me believe you were Green Arrow's niece," he snickered. "But we both know you're not. While I may not be sure on why GA, Bats, and Prime have a good reason for lying, let me make one thing clear: if you hurt my friends, you will regret it!" After making his threat, he turned and disappeared back into the shadows.

-.-

Infinity Island

"Report."

"Masters, before Obo's capture he transmitted the Starr Labs data you requested, but the Wayne intel, still eludes us."

"Once again, the young heroes interfered; fortunately we have an operative, on the inside."


	15. We are MECH

Chapter 14

 **A/N: alright, onto the next chapter! Once again: I own nothing!**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

 **/comm-link/**

Autobot Base August 13

/PRIME!/ Fowler shouted getting the attention of everyone in the base.

"Special Agent Fowler," Optimus replied calmly. "To what do we owe—"

/What else? Cons/ the agent interrupted. /I chased them off, but not before they blew me out of the sky!/

"Again?" Wally snickered.

/They tried a smash and grab for the DNGS/

"The what?"

/Dynamic Nuclear Generator System aka DNGS/ he said pressing a button revealing a crate. /It's a prototype that you helped Wayne Tech develop for alternative energy and is going to the coast for testing/

"That's absurd," Ratchet scoffed. "Why would Starscream bother with such primitive technology?"

"Hey! I happen to like our primitive technology!" Wally protested.

/I'm guessing to make a big, bad, primitive WMD. If this thing were to melt down, the radiation would hit this state and the four next door/

"Did he happen to say what state he was in?" Artemis asked.

/I'm a sitting duck here Prime. I need you to send a bridge, and get this thing to its destination before the Cons come back for it/

"Sending such a volatile device through a groundbridge is out of the question Agent Fowler. If there were to be an accident during the transfer, the radiation would propagate through the vortex, spreading it over possibly all fifty states and farther," Optimus stated and the team glanced between themselves.

/Got any better ideas?/

-.-

Rocky Mountains

Fowler sat next to Optimus in his vehicle looking over the multiple scanners and systems. "Can I drive?" he asked.

"No."

In the other vehicles Kid Flash was with Bulkhead arguing over what band to listen to, Miss Martian was flying the bioship in camouflage mode with up above, and Emerald was situated with 'Bee in his car. Revving their engines, they drove away from the crash site. Robin, Superboy, Aqualad, and Artemis were back at base.

/We're tracking your position. At this rate you should reach the drop off point by sundown/ Ratchet informed.

As they drove down the backroads, Optimus slowed down for an old truck driving along the road. Getting irritated, Fowler reached over and started slamming his hand on the horn. "MOVE IT GRAMPS!"

"Agent Fowler, is that really necessary?" Optimus asked pushing his hand away so he could drive.

"Don't tell me you're one of those textbook drivers," the agent grumbled as he watched the Camaro speed out in front of them. "You know, you're saving my bacon here Prime."

"I'm proud to be of service."

"Though my job would be easier if you and your Cons stuck to your own corner of the galaxy."

"Are you suggesting that no evil existed on your planet before our arrival?" Optimus asked.

"Uh…well…no…it was just a different kind of evil," he sputtered.

"From what I have seen from my work with the Justice League and other agencies, your world possesses many who are just as bad, if not worse, than the Decepticons," Optimus stated as the agent looked away.

"How about some music? You seem like a country sort of guy," Fowler suggested.

Up above, another was tracking the team, a helicopter. /They're transporting in an unarmed, civilian truck. Send in the ground units/

 _"_ _We've got company,"_ M'gann warned.

 _"_ _This is so weird."_

 _"_ _You get used to it, recognize them?"_ Emerald asked.

 _"_ _Yea! That's the Con who shot me down! Who is he?! Wingnut? Dingbat? Skyguy?"_

 _"_ _Watch your tailpipes,"_ Bulkhead relayed as four cars with the same green design drove up behind them. _"_ _Feeling constricted without the use of my fists here boss."_

 _"_ _Autobots, remain in vehicular mode unless absolutely necessary, Miss Martian stay in camouflage mode, the rest of you, stay inside your transports unless it is necessary to come out,"_ Optimus ordered.

"A whole team of Cons," Fowler muttered.

/What?/ Ratchet asked. /I'm not getting anything? They could be utilizing a cloaking technology and shielding their spark signatures/

One drove up to the front, 'Bee growled and tried to swerve around him, but he just swung over. Another car pulled up beside the trailer, the sunroof opened, revealing a masked man holding a gun. "Pull over!"

"Well I'll be scrapped!" Fowler gaped.

"Our assailants are not Decepticons, they are human," Optimus said.

/Human?!/

/Gentlemen, stop their engines/ the leader ordered.

The man prepared to fire, Optimus swerved, slamming the side of his truck into the smaller car. _"_ _Autobots, maintain cover, team, you are free to release cover, disarmament only."_

Another vehicle pulled up on Prime's other side, Bumblebee swerved over, and hit his brakes, making the other guy hit him, throwing off his aim. Inside the car, Emerald put on her ring, allowing her now black and blue uniform to appear, opened the door, and flew out. "SURPRISE!" she said swinging a giant hammer, knocking the car off the road, and flipping it over.

"Those are not civilians," the leader said as he looked down to see the Lantern, looking behind him he saw the Martian ship come out of hiding. "It's the League."

Inside the truck, Fowler was starting to fell carsick at all the turns they were making down the road. Seeing the man looking like he was about to vomit all over his vehicle, Optimus opened the window, letting him get some much-needed air.

Kid Flash ran alongside the vehicles, sprinting over to one of the guys trying to get to the trailer hitch, he punched him in the face, sending him falling back into his car. Miss M sent a telekinetic blast towards the vehicle, making it flip over and crash.

/I do hope you take better care of the DNGS than you do your captives/ a voice said over the walkie-talkie.

"Special Agent William Fowler here! Identify yourself!"

/I am Silas, but of greater consequence to you: we are MECH. Fair warning, we will be helping ourselves to the device, even if it means inflicting casualties/

"That so? Tell me Si: what's the market price for a DNGS these days?!"

/What makes you think we intend to sell it Agent Fowler?/ Silas questioned. /There's a war brewing, between the new world order, and the newest. The victor, will be the side with the most innovative technology/

 _"_ _Anyone else get the feeling he's somehow related to Lex Luthor here?"_ 'Bee asked.

 _"_ _Me."_

Behind them a guy shot several devices, forcing the back-hatch open.

"So Si, you think MECH as all the radical tech?" Fowler asked just as Arcee burst from the back on her motorcycle.

She landed on the hood of one car making it flip, the car behind it flipped over it and crashed in a fiery explosion.

"Later Si."

"Fowler, do not take this man lightly, Megatron preached the very same thing before plunging Cybertron into the Great War that destroyed our world," Optimus said, speaking up for the first time since their new adversary appeared.

/Optimus, you're almost to the drop point, five miles ahead to the south/ Robin informed.

-.-

Nemesis

 _"_ _You're almost to the drop point, five miles ahead to the south,"_ Soundwave relayed.

"So, the Autobots are outside the confines of their base?" Starscream mused. "And they sound otherwise engaged; meaning, they will never see us coming. Find them! And scrap them!"

"Yes, Lord Starscream," the troops said.

-.-

Rocky Mountains

 _"_ _There's the destination point,"_ Fowler said as they drove towards a tunnel with a train going towards one on a lower ridge.

 _"_ _Keep a tight formation,"_ Optimus said as they drove off the road, onto the ground beside the train, and into the tunnel.

In the back, Bulkhead stopped, transformed, and used his blasters to bring down the roof of the entrance before turning back and regrouping.

Bumblebee transformed and leapt onto the top of the train, tapping the sliding door.

"Tactical error, only one way out," Silas said as they flew over the tunnel and saw the vehicles exit, the Leaguers out of sight, no doubt already inside the transports. Hearing a jet, he looked on either side to see eight unusual looking jets fly past.

/Optimus, you have company/ Ratchet said.

"Decepticons?" Fowler asked.

The Cons fired and they took evasive action, their passengers clinging for dear life in the vehicles. Unfortunately, the trailer wasn't able to take the pressure and it snapped off, landing right into the missile fire.

"Sir, the DNGS…it didn't melt down," the helicopter piolet said.

"No…it didn't," Silas sgreed as they stared at the jets transforming in the air, landing on the ground.

 _"_ _Fowler, I'm afraid maintaining our cover is no longer possible; team, get yourselves and Agent Fowler to the Bioship,"_ Optimus said as they got out. /Ratchet, send a groundbridge for the team/ Transforming, Fowler found himself sitting queasily in the Prime's hand when he'd just been in the passenger seat a mere moment ago.

"Sorry, but I can't do that," he answered.

Nodding, Optimus set him on a rock, out of the way of the fight. "Stay here," he said as the bioship disappeared through the bridge.

"Ah, so these are the mighty Autobots," Silas smiled as he stared at the source of living technology.

"After a long road trip, if feels good to get out, stretch my limbs, and kick some Con tailpipe!" Bulkhead grinned smashing his fists together. Exchanging his hand for a wrecking ball the two sides charged each other.

Optimus smashed his way through one as Bulkhead crushed the other. Arcee shot under their limbs, hitting them everywhere while they didn't even land a blow on her. Bumblebee danced between two, letting them hit each other as they swung at him.

"Sir, if the DNGS wasn't in the truck?" the man asked.

"Right, that…"

/Agent Fowler, you certainly lead quite a life walking with Titians/ Silas said.

"Come down, I'll introduce ya."

/In another time, right now, I'm more concerned on how the DNGS vanished into thin air without a trace/

 _Flashback_

 _Bumblebee transformed and swung himself onto the train car. Tapping on the sliding door, it opened, revealing a soldier. The scout gave a small wave as the trailer walls folded down. Emerald flew over and made a platform that Arcee carefully hefted the DNGS onto. The young Lantern lifted it towards 'Bee who set it inside the car._

 _The door closed and 'Bee transformed off, allowing Emerald to get inside, as Wally swung himself back into Bulkhead's truck. Arcee hopped off the trailer just as the walls folded back up, transforming just as they exited the tunnel._

/Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a train to catch/

/PRIME! SI GOT WISE TO PHASE TWO!/

Ignoring the ringing in his audios, Optimus hurled a vehicon back. "I understand," he said. The trunk of a tree slammed into his face, sending him over the cliff.

/Prime?! Do you read?! PRIME!/

-.-

Base

The team looked at each other nervously as they heard the sound of Optimus getting hit. "Optimus is down!" Wally said worriedly.

"And MECH's gonna grab the DNGS," Robin stated.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Superboy asked.

"OK! So, if MECH wants the DNGS, they need to get on the train," Artemis said.

"What if we get on first?! Human on human interference?!" Wally suggested.

"Absolutely not!" Ratchet declared.

"If we don't we could have a nuclear meltdown on our hands," Aqualad said.

"You want me to not only bridge you into a confined space, but one moving ninety-miles-an-hour?! I can't even count the number of ways that can go wrong! Mass Displacement Trauma, twisted limbs, metal burn…" Ratchet listed before looking at them. "Well…maybe not the last one. Regardless, it is nearly impossible to fix groundbridge coordinates on something moving at that speed!"

"Would it help to have live coordinates?" Robin asked pulling up the train's GPS location.

"Well…"

-.-

Unknown location

"Immobilize them," Silas commanded as they flew above the train. A man went to the gun-port and fired, a small device hit the front of the train, sending an electrical pulse through it, shocking all on board, knocking them out.

Inside the car, the bridge opened and the team fell into it. "We're in," Aqualad said.

/I read you/ Robin said.

Superboy opened the door, seeing the helicopter about to land on the train. "They're trying to land on the train," he warned.

/You're about to come to a fork, brace yourselves/ Robin cautioned as he hacked.

"What happened?!" Silas demanded as they were suddenly thrown off the train.

"Hacker," the piolet replied pressing a button. "Former hacker."

The car jolted as the copter landed. "So, what that buy us? Ten seconds?" KF scoffed.

"Rob's losing his touch," Emerald sighed.

-.-

Bulkhead hurled another Con off of him as Arcee chased another. Bumblebee ducked under one's arm as he swung, giving an uppercut before punching him in the faceplate, almost sending him over the cliff.

On a ledge, Optimus shook his head, finally gaining his bearings after such a hard fall. Looking up he saw the train speeding off with the helicopter on it.

-.-

The piece of the roof MECH was cutting through finally came down. "SURPRISE!" Emerald shouted as she flew up and hit as guy with a giant mallet. "Who ordered the party?! Because we packed the punch!"

At that moment, Superboy leapt out and landed on top, sending the men scrambling back. A water barrier surrounded them, before a red and yellow blur shoved them closer together. KF stopped by his cousin just as M'gann lifted them up Artemis fired an arrow, trapping them in a fast-solidifying foam.

"Sir!" the piolet said.

Silas looked away from the young heroes, towards the red and blue truck that was gaining on them. "Retreat." The helicopter took off and flew forwards down the track. "First rule of combat, never leave the enemy with the spoils," he said pulling out a high-tech weapon, firing he blew the track.

Emerald flew to the front, making a construct to try to slow down the train, Superboy joined her, pulling along the side, digging his feet into the ground. The rest of the team ducked their heads back in the train as Optimus shot by heading for the front.

-.-

"That's the last of them," Bulkhead said wiping his servos together.

"Where's Optimus?" Arcee asked.

"He had a train to catch," Fowler answered.

-.-

Optimus joined the other two at the front, who'd had some success at slowing the train down. Grabbing the other side, the three began to pulled back, slowing the train to a stop with a few meters to spare. Looking up they all saw the MECH copter hovering above them, Emerald started to fly up, but the massive arm of the Prime halted her attack.

"Well played," Silas said as they flew away. "But we will be leveling the playing field soon, even if we have to open a few of you up."

/Optimus? Are you and the children…intact?/ Ratchet asked.

"We're fine," he said. "Crisis averted."

"SOUVENIR!" Kid Flash shouted holding one on the men's masks.


	16. Tower of Fate

Chapter 15

 **A/N: I just own the story, nothing else.**

 **/comm-link/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave's speech_**

New Orleans, July 27

An old man walked down the street, stopping at a small shop, pulling out an old pocket watch, he looked at an old picture of a young woman. Going inside he stood next to the table with the crystal ball.

A woman walked out of the shadows with a soft smile. "Bonjour, how can Madame Zanado be of service?" she asked. "Ah, there is someone to whom you wish to speak, your wife?"

"Yes, my Inza," he replied.

"Then Madame will make contact, if fate be kind," she said taking her seat.

"He rarely is," the man muttered. The woman made a coughing sound and held out her hand. "Oh, of course." Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a wad of cash.

Madame closed her eyes and her hair started to blow around, the curtains flew back, the crystal ball started glowing, and the table shaking. "Oh, my darling, how I've missed you," she said eerily opening her glowing eyes. "I'm so lonely here, and cold."

"Ha! That's the best you could do?!"

"Imbecile! You've broken the spell!" she snapped. "Your wife is forever lost!"

"That was my wife? My little spitfire would've kicked my can for throwing away good money on you."

"No refunds for non-believers," she said.

"I think we both know who's the non-believer here," he said. "A wind machine, tire-jacks under the table. Shame, you have the perfect aura for the work too. And nothing would please me more than being reunited with my bride."

"You'll be reunited with her soon enough," a man said lifting him off the ground before they vanished in a white light.

-.-

Mt. Justice, August 16

"Initiate: combat training. Three…two…one," the computer said as a shirtless Superboy and Aqualad circled each other. One the timer ended the boys charged each other and started their sparring.

On the sideline, the three girls stood watching.

"Kaldur's nice, don't ya think?" Artemis said. "Handsome, commanding, M'gann, you should totally go out with him."

"He's like a cousin to me," she laughed slightly. "But you know who'd make the cutest couple? Erica and Bumblebee." The three girls looked to see where their other teammate was typing away on a holo-screen with his headphones in, blatantly ignoring the speedster chatting away next to him.

"He's like an older brother to me. Besides, he's 16,999,427 years-old! Even if it did work he'd outlive me by a lot," Erica stated blushing.

"Really?" Artemis asked looking him over. "He doesn't look a day over seventeen."

"Cybertronian life spans are way, way longer than ours," she informed. "The oldest Cybertronian's age was unknown, but rumor says that he was around several thousand Cybertronain years when he died, and it wasn't from natural causes either! So 'Bee isn't even seventeen in his people's years yet."

Artemis shrugged. "Whatever, I still ship it."

Erica rolled her eyes, before smirking. "Now, if you want to know who I really ship, it's Artemis and Wally."

They looked towards the red-head eating and trying to talk to 'Bee who just turned up his music to ignore him. "I have to agree," M'gann nodded. "You're so full of passion and he's so full of…"

"It," Artemis suggested as they laughed.

"Fail," the computer said as Superboy took Aqualad's leg out from under him and tossed him across the ring.

"Black Canary taught me that," Superboy said wiping his hands.

A small door in the roof opened and Red Tornado flew down. "You have a mission for us?" Wally asked giving up on trying to talk to Bumblebee.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's and Prime's responsibility," he relayed.

"Yea, well the Batman is with the Robin doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham. And Prime is…where is he?"

 _"_ _Dad is currently arguing with Agent Fowler and Secretary of Defense about finding several major flaws in the transport plans for the DNGS that resulted in MECH finding out about it in the first place,"_ 'Bee said removing his headphones.

"Yea, that," Wally said. "But you're going somewhere, hot date? Or, a mission?"

"If we can be of help," Aqualad said.

Tornado turned and pulled up a holo-screen on an old man. "This is Kent Nelson, a friend, he is 106 years-old."

"Doesn't look a day over ninety," Wally commented before being elbowed by Erica.

"And he's been missing for seventeen days," Tornado informed. "He was a member of the Justice Society, the precursor to the Justice League." The image switched to a man wearing a golden helmet, gold vest, navy pants, gold boots, and a gold cape.

"Of course, Nelson was Earth's sorcerer supreme, he was Dr. Fate," Aqualad recalled.

"More like Dr. Fake, guy Dumbledores it up with a little science to scare the bad guys and pick up the babes," KF mumbled before being elbowed again.

"He may just simply be on one of his walk-a-bouts, but he's caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might," Tornado said. "And it's unwise to leave such power unguarded."

"He's like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars, I would be honored to help find him," M'gann said.

Wally's hand shot up faster than lightning. "Me too! So honored! I can barely stand it! Magic rocks!"

"Take this," Tornado said holding out a key that 'Bee took and hid safely in his subspace. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate."

"So, what are the chances that we both so admire the mystic arts," Wally asked.

-.-

Bioship

"So Wally?" Artemis said. "When did you first realize your honest affinity for sorcery?"

"Well, I don't want to brag, but before becoming Kid Flash, I seriously wanted to become a wizard myself," he said making Erica, Artemis, and 'Bee roll their eyes.

"We've reached the coordinates," M'gann said.

"Nothing's there," Superboy said.

They landed in camouflage mode, a tabby cat narrowed its red eyes and slunk into an abandoned theater. "Grant us access to the Tower and I promise an end to your suffering. Continue to refuse and…"

"AH!" Nelson cried out as he was electrocuted.

Klarion Witch Boy sat in a seat laughing at the scene. The cat hopped onto his lap and meowed. "Shh Tekiel! I'm watching the show," he smiled as he stared at his ally torturing the old man.

"Enjoy it, while you can," Kent huffed. "Soon enough, my friends will come to help me—AH!"

"Encore! Encore!" Klarion cheered clapping. The cat hissed again, louder this time. "What?" It hissed more and its eyes glowed red. "Oh."

Out in a field, Kid skid back in front of them. "Nothing. It's not simple camouflage," he said.

"What do you think?" Artemis asked.

 _"_ _It's not adaptive micro-opto-electronics combined with phase shifting. Otherwise my scanners would pick it up,"_ 'Bee said shrugging _._

"Clearly mystic powers are at work here!" KF said as Miss M walked up.

"Hey Abracadabra, aren't you using that adaptive whatever he said?" Klarion asked.

"Yes…"

"'Bee, the key," Kaldur said. Bumblebee pulled out the key and tossed it to him. "A test of faith, stand behind me." Walking forwards he stuck out the key and it inserted into something, turning a door appeared, unlocked, followed by the rest of the tower.

They went inside and the door slammed behind them. "Where'd the door go?" Superboy asked.

"Greetings," a ghostly figure said. "You've entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent."

"We are true believers, here to find Dr. Fate!" Wally exclaimed.

The ghostly hologram gave them an almost sympathetic look before vanishing. The floor gave out from under them and they started falling towards a pit of lava. Emerald put on her ring, making the blue uniform appear, catching Artemis and Aqualad as M'gann caught Kid. Superboy and 'Bee grabbed the walls sliding down, barely avoiding the lava.

-.-

"The Tower doesn't like trespassers," Kent warned as the group entered.

"Mute," Abracadabra said and a small collar flew up around the old man's neck.

They walked through a wall and into a living room. The ghostly hologram appeared before them. "Hello Kent, how unlike you to bring guests to the Tower, especially ones with such potent mystic power."

 _"_ _My friends come to help me."_ The ghost smiled and a door appeared.

-.-

"Having trouble," Miss Martian huffed as she started losing altitude. "It's so hot…"

"You certainly are," Kid complemented.

"WALLY!" Artemis, Erica, and 'Bee yelled.

"Hey! when you're inches above sizzling death! You're entitled to speak you mind!" he protested just as Emerald placed her construct under them, allowing the pair to sit down.

"Mine and Megan's physiologies are susceptible to extreme heat, we need to get out quickly!" Aqualad huffed.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Superboy asked looking at 'Bee's rather cheerful expression.

 _"_ _Are you kidding?! This heat feels like Cybertron!"_ he said. _"_ _If you think this is hot you should see a smelting pit, now those are hot."_

"Hello Megan," she said tiredly smacking her forehead. "We never really answered the question. Red Tornado sent us to see if Mr. Nelson and the Helmet were safe!"

A metal door covered the lava and the group hopped onto it. "This platform, it should be red hot, but it is cool to the touch," Aqualad said feeling it.

 _"_ _There are some metals that are like that."_

"Don't worry Megalicious, I got ya," Wally said helping her up.

"ENOGUH!" Erica said pushing him back.

"YOU'RE LITTLE IMPRESS M'GANN AT ALL COSTS GAME, NEARLY GOT US ALL BARBEQUED!" Artemis snapped.

"When did it become my fault?!"

"When you lied about believing in magic!" they both said.

"Wally, you don't believe in magic?" M'gann asked.

"Fine! I lied about believing in magic! But magic is the real lie!" he huffed.

"Wally I studied for years at the mystic conservatory in Atlantis, the mystic arts gave me the markings that power my water bearers," Aqualad said.

"Ever hear of bioelectricity?! In primitive cultures fire was once considered magic! It's all just a bunch of tricks!"

"You're pretty closed-minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," Erica said.

"That's science, I recreated the event that gave Flash his powers, everything can be explained by science, right 'Bee?" Wally asked.

 _"_ _Wally, the Primes are literally guardians of ancient mystical relics and have been known to have mystic powers themselves. There are also things that our advanced sciences have never been able to explain; the All-Spark for example,"_ he said.

"You were supposed to be on my side!"

"How about we test your theory," Aqualad said pulling on the lever to a hatch.

"Wait! the back draft from the lava will roast us alive!" Wally said as he opened it and snow came out.

 _"_ _Kul'vak! It had to be the fragging cold! Why couldn't it be the slaggin' tropics!"_ 'Bee cursed as the cold air hit him. Emerald smacked the back of his head for the string of curses.

"Are you ever tired of being wrong?" Artemis snickered as they jumped through. "Well?"

"Pocket dimension!"

"What's that?" Emerald asked as they saw a floating, glowing staff.

"I got it!" both Wally and Artemis said grabbing it. "I can't let go!" The staff yanked them up into the air and they vanished in a bright light.

"Great."

-.-

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Klarion kept repeating as they made their way through the maze of stairs.

Abracadabra shoved Nelson forwards and yanked off the collar. "Tell us how to find the helmet!"

"Can't, having too much fun," he retorted.

He electrocuted the old man as the Lord of Chaos laughed. "Having fun now?"

"I am," Klairon grinned. "Zap him again! or push him off the edge and we can watch him go splat!" The cat growled and he sighed. "Yes, yes, I suppose we may still need him."

-.-

The group—minus the two who were kidnapped by the magic staff—continued to wander the cold environment. Emerald created a blue bubble around 'Bee to try to keep him warm since he didn't have any protective armor and his current clothes weren't reliable to maintaining body heat.

"You doing ok?" she asked noticing he was still shivering.

 _"_ _I miss the lava,"_ he said quietly as she rolled her eyes.

"I don't understand Wally," Megan sighed. "It's almost like he needs to believe the impossible can't happen."

"Wally uses his understanding of science to control what he cannot comprehend," Aqualad stated. "and to admit the existence of magic would be to relinquish the last vestige of that control."

Hearing a creaking sound, they saw a set of stairs and a doorway appear at the top of a small ridge.

 _"_ _Warmth!"_ 'Bee shouted sprinting fast enough to give Kid Flash a run for his money towards the door.

-.-

Artemis and Wally found themselves on a platform still holding the staff. Looking towards a different one they growled. "Abracadabra!" Wally sneered.

"Well, would you look at that," Nelson smiled as his walking-stick glowed and levitated him over to it. grabbing on the ropes binding his wrists came undone. "In here!" Motioning to the wall an elevator door opened and they rushed inside.

"No…No. No! No! I WANT IT! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!" Klarion screamed, sending red arcs towards the doors as they closed.

"I'm Kent Nelson by the way," he introduced himself.

"No duh," Wally grumbled before Artemis elbowed him.

"I'm Artemis, and Ms. Manners here is Wally," she replied.

"Well Artemis, we're going against an opponent with tremendous mystic power," Kent informed.

"Abracadabra, Flash proved he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic," KF huffed. "He's all show and no biz."

"Right you are," Nelson smiled.

"Really?" Artemis gasped.

"Abracadabra is a fake, but Klarion the Witch Boy, the boy with the cat, he's an actual Lord of Chaos; the ultimate enemy for a Lord of Order like Dr. Fate."

"Right, you're a Lord of Order," Wally stated rolling his eyes.

"Oh no, not me, I'm just an old coat Fate used to toss on, until my wife Inza convinced me there could be more to life," he sighed pulling out the pocket watch, staring at the picture. "Ah, she was a real pistol, Inza…Anyways, Klarion's after the Helmet, if he gets his sticky little mitts on it, he'll turn the planet into his own playground of pandemonium." The elevator dinged, getting out they walked up to a giant bell.

Nelson point behind them, and sure enough a door opened. Bumblebee fell out first, making a sizable dent in the floor, followed shortly by Superboy and Aqualad landing on him. Both girls floated down chuckling lightly.

"Friends of yours?" he chuckled as Artemis ran over to help the guys up.

The pair ducked as a ray shot over them. Looking to the side, they saw Klarion and Abracadabra on one of the walls(?) glaring at them.

Nelson hit the bell and it began glowing. They walked through, seeing this Klarion flew in after. "C'mon!" Emerald said to 'Bee dragging him through the glowing bell as they chased the Witch.

-.-

Arriving on the roof, they saw a golden float helmet. Kent went to grab it, but was struck in the chest by a red bolt. Clutching his chest, he spoke an incantation, slammed his walking-stick on the ground and a golden dome rose up around them.

"NOOO!"

"Not bad for a former Dr. Fate?" the old man asked with a small smile. Emerald made a mattress just as he collapsed, allowing him to land safely on the plush object. "The bubble will give you just enough time to do what you need to do."

"I have no idea what I need to do!"

"Have faith in what you can't explain," he wheezed. "Believe what you can no longer deny." Reaching out he grabbed Emerald and whispered something in her ear before he took one shaky exhale and stopped moving.

Wally began to do CPR when a hand fell on his shoulder. Looking up he saw 'Bee look at him and shake his head. _"_ _He's gone Wally."_

"I WANT THE HELMET AND I WANT IT NOW!" Klarion shouted as he kept sending fire blasts towards them.

 _"_ _Guys! We need help down here!"_ M'gann said sending them a telepathic image to the rest of their team trapped under electrical nets, before one hit her and the link cut.

Symbols began to glow at Klarion's feet, raising his hands, two massive, red claws emerged and latched onto the dome, the claws slowly sinking through.

"We're running low on time here!" Emerald said noticing the staff was slowly burning.

"So that's where the ring went," the demon whispered.

"A test of faith," Wally said grabbing the helmet.

"Hey dumb kid! You put that on you might never get it off!"

Wally started to put on the helmet when Klarion sent a blast at him, 'Bee pushed him out of the way just as he got the helmet on, taking the hit for himself.

 _"_ _Ok, ok, I'm not going crazy, I'm just in a dream," Wally said._

 _"_ _Still don't believe me. seriously? How did you become so bull-headed in fifteen short years?" Kent Nelson asked. "As soon as little bru-hah-hah is over I'm going to ascend to be with Inza."_

 _"_ _Oh…ok…wait! Does that mean that I'm—?"_

 _"_ _You're alive, but your soul no longer controls your body," he explained. "We're inside the helmet. You put it on and my soul got sucked inside, probably because I spent so many years serving its master."_

 _"_ _Master?"_

 _"_ _Nabu, the real Dr. Fate, one of them Lords of Order I told you about. He's the one controlling your body now, wanna watch?"_

"'BEE!" Emerald screamed seeing her friend take the hit; Cybertronian biology and magic never mixed well, and only fully-realized Primes seemed to have any immunity towards it. He hit short wall on the outside, creating a string of cracks on it, before landing limply on the ground as the occasional red spark arced over his body, making him writhe in pain. Racing over she checked on her—thankfully—unconscious friend as Fate flew above them as Klarion hurled fireballs at him.

"Give up Nabu! Order went out of style in the twentieth century!"

"This battle is pointless. You sought to take the helmet before it gained a host, but you are too late," Nabu responded.

"Shut it ya old fart!" Two twisting stone columns rose from the ground and attempted to crush the Lord of Order, who just broke out.

"Brat!" he sneered firing at the Chaos Lord who evaporated and reformed behind Nabu. He shot lightning from his hands, hitting him in the back.

 _"_ _Ah!" Wally cried out as pain exploded in his back. "What gives?"_

 _"_ _It is your body."_

 _"_ _Then let me control it. with Fate's power and my speed—"_

 _"_ _Sorry, doesn't work that way, but you can see why I haven't put the helmet on in so long."_

 _"_ _And if Fate loses?"_

 _"_ _You see Inza before I do."_

Klarion send a wall of flame shaped oddly like a phoenix. He jumped out of its path before it circled around and ran right into the wall of light Fate created before getting hit again in the back. Klarion made a bunch of small red dots in the air before shooting them like an outlaw. Fate made a shield before flying out of their path. Seeing this, Klarion started breathing fire, using it to chase the Doctor. raising his hand columns of fire came up from the ground, one hit him in the chest and he slammed to the ground.

"You're out of practice Nabu, and that pathetic host body, zero affinity for the mystic arts," Klarion teased. A storm began to form above them and a red lightning bolt shot down, almost hitting Fate who just barely managed to make a shield in time. "Oh, rainbow power." The cat beside him gave an irritated growl. "I am paying attention you stupid cat!" Another hiss came. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm winning!"

Off to the side Emerald watched worriedly, she wanted to help but knew she was way out of her league here.

Bumblebee winced as he regained consciousness, magic always hurt like a glitch—thank you technological side of his biology—looking off to the side he was Wally, err, well, Fate keeping a shield up to avoid getting hit by lightning. He saw that the jerk who shot him was not taking the fight seriously at all, enough to argue with a cat…wait a sec...reaching into his subspace, trying to pull out a gun.

"'Bee?!" Emerald said noticing he was conscious.

 _"_ _I'm fine,"_ he grunted finally pulling it out. Taking aim, he pulled the trigger. The cat yelped from the impact, sending skidding a few feet away from its master.

"Tekiel!"

Fate made a massive energy charge, releasing it, he blocked the lightning attack from continuing any further. "It is difficult for a Lord of Order or Chaos to maintain a presence on the physical plain."

Klarion's face twisted and flames surrounded him as he shot more blasts at the flying pest.

"I am bound to the helmet and use a human host, but that is not your way," he said.

"You're babbling Nabu!"

"Am I?" he shot a blast towards the cat, hitting it again.

Klarion gasped as his cat was hit viciously for a second time. "I can't believe you two would assault a defenseless pussycat!"

 _"_ _I hate cats anyways!"_

"We both know that is no cat Witch Boy," Fate said narrowing his eyes and getting between the two teens and the ticked off Lord of Chaos. "And without your familiar you have no anchor to this reality."

"Bully! Killjoy! Geezer!" he chanted as his form flickered in and out of sight. Fire fired another shot and he vanished into a portal, reappearing next to the cat and picking it up. "We're outta here!" He erupted into several streams of black smoke that quickly vanished.

-.-

The other members of the team cried out as Abracadabra kept electrocuting them. A glowing symbol appeared behind him and soon enough the cried stopped and he was only in his underwear.

"Show's over," Superboy snarled, punching him in the face.

-.-

 _"_ _Yes!" Wally cheered. "That's how we kick butt on the Earthly plain!" he stood there waiting for the helmet to be removed. "Uh…it's over, so why isn't he taking off the helmet?"_

 _"_ _Because the Earth needs Dr. Fate," Nabu answered. "I will not release this body."_

 _"_ _You can't do that?! Can he do that?"_

 _"_ _Can but shouldn't," Kent replied. "Nabu, he's not the right candidate, the kid's soul belongs to the world of science, not sorcery."_

 _"_ _True, but I do not appreciate being permanently hidden away, useless, isolated, for decades at a time. CHAOS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO REIGN!"_

 _"_ _That won't happen again. He'll take the helmet and make sure you're put to good use," Nelson reassured._

 _"_ _Yea, I swear!"_

 _"_ _I the meantime, I'll stick around, keep you company," Nelson said._

 _"_ _Wait? What happened to you ascending? Seeing Inza?" Wally asked._

 _"_ _So you believe now, eh?" he smiled. "Don't sweat it kid. I'll spend a few millennia here, then see Inza; that's the great thing about eternity, it's eternal."_

 _"_ _The bargain is acceptable."_

 _"_ _Some free advice before ya go: find your own little spitfire, one who won't let you get away with nothing…"_

Wally removed the helmet and walked over to Kent's body, he set the pocket watch in his hand. Emerald hugged her cousin as she watched 'Bee wrap the body.

-.-

Mt. Justice, August 17

Wally walked over to the shelf of souvenirs and set the helmet down.

"You never said what happened to you, when you put the helmet on?" Artemis asked as his cousin stood behind her. Leave it to those two to gang up on him; he was just lucky the third member was back at his own base.

"Energy from the thing rerouted my brain's Beta waves, I was bioscripted into becoming Dr. Fate for a few minutes, no big," he said.

"Wait, you're still claiming that you don't believe in magic? If that's all it is, why keep it at all?" Artemis growled.

"Souvenir."

"Geek!" she said walking off.

"Wally, what really happened?" Emerald asked.

"Let's just say I have a whole new understanding of the world," he smiled as he saw M'gann walk by, Kent's last words ringing in his head. "Hey Megan! Guess who bought us tickets to see a magic show!"


	17. Ancient History

Chapter 16

 **A/N: I just own this story, nothing else.**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"_** ** _Bumblebee's speech"_**

 **/comm-link/**

Autobot Base, August 21

"So why aren't you excited about going to school?" Bulkhead asked Wally as the boy continued complaining about his homework.

"Because it's boring, pointless compared to what I've learned with the League, and I'm not even going to use most of it in my future anyways," he replied.

"Remember if you fail high school you can't get into uni—coll—what's that word again?"

"Uh, college?"

"Man, you sound like my parents," he sighed.

"Wally? What did you do now?!" Erica called from another room.

Ignoring her, Bulkhead crossed his arms and looked down at the youngster. "It's only because we want what's best for you. Look, before I was a warrior I was a laborer, construction; I can build stuff, I can break stuff, and that's it!"

"Seems like you and I are good from the same things," Superboy said with a slight smile.

"Superboy, I already know you're way smarter than me. And you, you should aspire to be something like Ratchet," Bulkhead said pointing at the boys respectively.

"I'm detecting a fresh energon pulse, from the nation of Greece," Ratchet said as they walked into the common room. "An ancient city, quite historic if I'm correct."

"Ancient Greece huh? Who's up for a field trip boys?"

-.-

Nemesis

"It's about time Knockout!" Starscream growled as the red haired and clad man strutted into the bridge. "I do not enjoy being kept waiting."

"It was a long drive Starscream, I'm still picking bugs out of my grill," Knockout sighed running a hand through his styled red locks.

"Yes, right, you're one of those," he sneered.

"Come again?" the red-head asked putting his hands on his hips.

"Never understood why any self-respecting Decepticon would choose automobile, when they could have the power of flight instead."

"It makes me look better than wings do," he huffed as he was lead towards the med-bay. "I take it Lord Megatron requires a laboratory assist?"

"You could say that," Starscream replied as the door opened, revealing the man on life-support.

"Whoa."

-.-

Greece, August 22

"Here we are," Bulkhead said letting the kids out of his car before grabbing a device out of the front seat and starting to scan.

"Sweet!" Wally said looking around with Superboy. "So what's the plan?"

"I'm scouting for energon," Bulkhead replied with his vehicle armor in puppet mode behind him. "You are doing research for that history report, and Superboy is actually getting to see somewhere else that doesn't involve a mission."

"Looks like you got punked," Superboy chuckled as Wally just gaped at the man walking ahead.

"Signal's strong…" he grumbled looking up to see construction equipment. "An excavation site, according to my scanner the humans hit energon veins, and they don't even know it." His gaze landed on a crumbling piece of wall, one with the fresco of a man holding a golden orb. "Whoa…that's Cybertronian!"

-.-

Nemesis

"Unfortunately our beloved Lord Megatron has been like this for quite some time," Starscream informed. "But the crew took a vote, and it was decided that an expert might put him on the road to recovery." He sounded angry as he mentioned that detail.

"I may've done plenty of body-work Starscream, but I'm better at breaking things than fixing them," he replied showing the buzsaw in his arm. "Be better if I had my assistant…"

"I summoned both of you, where is he?"

"We were hot on a fresh energon trail when you called. Breakdown will show when he's done scouting it."

-.-

Greece

"Why would ancient Greeks paint an energon harvester?" Bulkhead asked as he looked over the painting.

"So that's what that is," Superboy said as Wally took a picture. "See, you're smarter than you let on."

"But even dumber than he looks," a Cybertronian in blue, grey, and orange vehicle armor said.

"Breakdown," Bulkhead snarled already in his own vehicle armor, no need to let him have the upper-hand.

"Miss me?"

"Like rust in my undercarriage," he growled.

"You know him?" Wally asked.

"We have a history…"

"And you have two pets," Breakdown sneered. "Do they play fetch?" He broke a column off if its foundation, hurling it, Wally sprinted to a safe distance as Superboy caught the incoming object and hurled it back at the charging 'Con who just punched through it.

"Stay back!" Bulkhead ordered as he tackled his nemesis. They fell off the ledge they were on, and Breakdown hurled Bulkhead through the fresco.

"Oops, hope the pretty picture wasn't too important," Breakdown chuckled as he turned, transformed, and drove off.

"Told ya I'm good at breaking things," Bulkhead sighed as the kids rushed over.

"We've always got your back Bulk," Wally said holding out his phone and the picture of the fresco.

-.-

Autobot Base

"It is indeed an energon harvester," Optimus confirmed as they looked at a larger version of the picture Wally sent. "A powerful tool created by the Ancients, to remove raw energon from any source."

"Greeks knew the Autobots?" Robin asked.

"No, but the Ancients used the art of a given era to hide hidden messages, an art that we still used to transfer highly classified information in the war. The fresco was most likely a sign, indicating the harvester's location."

"Uh, Optimus, if the harvester can be used to remove energon from anything, and you all have energon in your bodies…" Artemis started.

"In Decepticon hands, the harvester would be a devastating weapon."

"See! We were right to destroy the painting!" Wally smiled.

"He's got a point," Arcee said. "How can they find it without the painting?"

"With the internet," Robin stated. "If you search up for: Greek god, and gold orb, this pops up." He showed an image of a statue holding the orb. It's at a museum, here in Jasper actually."

"That the real thing?"

"Contact Agent Fowler," Optimus said.

"This is Special Agent Fowler, I am currently on an intensive training retreat, and am not available till Tuesday," the message machine relayed.

"I hate talking to machines," Ratchet grumbled.

"Without Agent Fowler's direct aid, we will have to confiscate the harvester on our own," Optimus sighed.

"But you're an official in the government, doesn't that give you some power?" Suberboy asked.

"My position does not grant me the ability to warrant a seizure of the harvester, which is why we were trying to get in contact with Agent Fowler," he explained. "I do not wish to break human law, but once the Decepticons learn of the harvester's location, they will not hesitate to take it by any means necessary. We must act covertly."

"We could do it, in our civies," Erica suggested. "No one would suspect a group of teenagers going to a museum and getting locked in by accident! This way you can be on guard just in case any Cons do show up!"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Bulkhead said skeptically.

"But it is our most valid option," Optimus agreed.

-.-

Nemesis

"Yea, that's it," Breakdown confirmed the image on Soundwave's visor.

"Then I'm afraid Megatron's well-being will have to wait," Starscream smirked. "It's harvest time."

-.-

Jasper

The team drove into the museum parking lot, Optimus stopped in the front as the others circled around.

/West side secure/ Arcee said.

 _/I got the east/_

/South side covered/

/Maintain your guard. Team, I will have a clear view of you, once you have the harvester, I will contact Ratchet to bridge you back to base/

"You'll be bypassing all forms of normal entry, so the alarms won't go off. But make sure to avoid the security guards," Ratchet warned as he opened the bridge. Artemis and Wally hopped off, ready to find an alternate escape route if needed. Going through, they arrived in a hallway, driving the lift into the main room, they saw the orb.

Erica looked out to see Optimus flash his lights. "We're clear," she whispered. "Robin, go."

Smirking, he began hacking the security feed, and placed it on a loop. "This is way too easy!" he nodded to the others and the lift went up, allowing Superboy and Aqualad to carefully lift the giant golden ball.

Hearing another car, Optimus looked behind him and saw someone driving up next to him. "Sweet rims, twenty-four gauge?" Knockout questioned. "You're real heavy duty, just like my friend here."

Breakdown drove up and fired a missile, transforming, Optimus spun around and caught the projectile. The power behind it made him slide back, cracking the glass slightly. The two groups quickly looked at each other, before Knockout charged up with his staff, electrocuting the Prime.

"Cons," Erica said.

"And they've got Optimus," Aqualad said.

Outside Knockout flashed his lights towards Breakdown. The Con began to speed towards the museum when Arcee and Bumblebee sped out from either side of the building. Breakdown shot a missile at 'Bee, whom barely dodged the shot. He fired another at Aree, who avoided it, but the force from it sent her skidding into her teammate. Bulkhead charged over the roof, heading for Breakdown. The brute slammed Bulkhead back into Knockout, and forced both of them through the glass, causing the alarms to go off.

Knockout sat up, and saw Prime starting to recover after being electrified with a few thousand volts. Raising his staff, he charged again only to get slammed aside by a smug scout.

"Time to make our exit guys!" Wally said as the others drove over. He and Artemis ran ahead, finding the exit they picked. Going to the bay doors, they opened it only to be confronted by the security guard.

"Hi…"

"Come with me you two," the guard said taking Artemis and Wally inside his office.

The main door to the loading dock was partially open, so the others could see a pair of lithe, Cybertronian vehicle-armor legs approaching. "Arcee!" Aqualad called. They started head for the door when it opened all the way to reveal the faceless Con.

"Soundwave!" Erica said starting to put on her ring, when a tentacle smacked it out of her hand. Robin tossed a few explosive bat-a-rangs at him, but once they made impact, they didn't explode and the Con just flicked them off. Before M'gann to do anything to help, they all felt a dark presence enter their heads.

 _"_ _Objective: energon harvester, Orders: retrieve by any means necessary, Obstacles: foolish children,"_ the telepath said before their heads exploded in pain. Grabbing the harvester, he transformed and flew off; once he was gone, the pain in their heads subsided.

"That would be game," Knockout said putting away his staff as he and Breakdown transformed and drove away.

The Autobots were about to pursue when the team raced out. "The Cons got the harvester!" Aqualad said.

"And security got Artemis and Wally!" Robin added.

"I'll go get them!" Bulkhead said before Prime stopped him.

"They may be detained, but they are safe," he stated.

-.-

"If this is some kind of prank, you two need to know that the authorities are on their way. Along with, no doubt the Autobots, both of whom would love to hear what happened to the sphere," the security guard said.

"We were doing our history reports, we just lost track of time and got locked in after closing," Wally said.

"So what's your history report about? I'd love to know."

"Ancient Greece/Rome!" they said.

-.-

Base

"In all likely hood Starscream will use the harvester to gather as much energon as possible as quickly as he can from the planet's otherwise unmineable energon deposits. Approach with extreme caution, Starscream will not hesitate to turn the harvester on any one of us," Optimus warned as he sent his team through various bridges to different locations to try to find the Cons. "Bulkhead, it is best you remain here."

"So, I can get the guys out of the museum?"

"So, you can help Ratchet, to get the kids, Fowler remains our best option," Optimus replied before leaving through his own bridge.

"Still no answer," Robin sighed when Bulkhead walked over.

"Fowler's lounging around some poolside cabana drinking a martini!" Bulkhead growled slamming his fist on a large torch.

"Bulkhead! I needed that!"

"We could free them, if we just returned the harvester to the museum," Bulhead stated.

"So, the Decpticons could steal it again?" Ratchet grumbled.

"I am so dumb!"

"So, how are we going to help them?" Erica asked.

"By returning this replica, the construction of which, would be going a lot faster if Bulkhead didn't just mangle my frame-welder!" Ratchet explained.

"I wish I never took you and Wally to…wait…the painting wasn't the only thing we found at those ruins," he realized.

"Starscream's not dumb! No matter what tool he has, he's going to take the easy route!"

-.-

Greece, August 23

"Why move mountains now, when we have a motherload of energon right here for the taking?" Starscream said holding the sphere. "Courtesy of this gift from the Ancients."

"Actually Starscream, it was a gift from Breakdown and myself," Knockout said.

The commander aimed the orb at them at they stepped back as the orb began draining the energon from the unfortunate vehicon it hit. A minute later, he fell over dead. "All that energon in such a tiny vessel," Starscream mused.

"The Ancients never missed a trick, Lord Starscream," Knockout corrected himself.

The pair cowered as he aimed it at them, before turning away with a smug grin. Going over to some rocks, he started to drain the energon out of them.

Bulkhead and Superboy cautiously approached the group of Cons. They carefully moved forwards only to freeze as Bulkhead stepped on a pot.

"Back for seconds?" Breakdown questioned as he pulled out his hammer and Knockout grabbed his staff. The pair looked between them, before smiling and rolling back at the last possible moment, making the two Decepticreeps hit each other. Suerboy grabbed the electric staff out of the air, and jammed it into an opening within Breakdown's armor, he collapsed to the ground as electricity surged into him.

Bulkhead gasped as the energon harvester was turned on him. "You're a big one, this could take a while," Starscream sneered.

Superboy ran forwards, and punched Starscream in the face, sending him back into the cliff. Bulkhead got up and lumber over to the orb. Picking it up, he crushed it in his hand, and hurled it off, allowing it to explode in the sky.

"Sweet," the young clone grinned just as Bulkhead collapsed. "Bulkhead!" Rushing over he got on the titan's chest just as KO and Breakdown started to approach.

"You two are gluttons for punishment," Knockout smiled. Behind them a bridge appeared and the other Autobots came out, firing on them.

"Fight?" Breakdown asked.

"Drive," his partner replied. The two turned tail and ran before transforming and driving away.

Starscream barely avoided several shots, before he growled and flew away.

Looking up, Bulkhead saw his team and Superboy looking down at him worriedly. "Hey…anyone get a souvenir?"

Superboy held up an old clay pot. "This work?"

-.-

Jasper

"Rome is way better than Greece!" Wally snapped. "They developed paved roads, aqueducts, and so much of today's modern math!"

"The Roman borrowed most of that from the Greeks!" Artemis countered. "They stole their gods, culture, why do you think that's all they stole!"

The security guard sat between them looking baffled, first it was just a description of their reports, but soon it was a full-on debate about who was the better empire. A loud knock sounded at the door and Agent Fowler walked in. "Special Agent William Fowler, the stolen property has been located and restored to the premises," he said flashing his badge. "The kids come with me. You dropped your phones, I found them right next to your history reports."

"Thanks Fowler," Artemis said as they walked outside.

"You're welcome, just don't let it happen again," he said as they got into Bulkhead's truck.

"I still say the Romans are better."

"WALLY!"


	18. Illegal Activities

Chapter 17

 **A/N: I only own this story.**

 **/comm-link/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave's speech_**

August 26, Outside Metropolis

Knockout drove along a desolate road, listening to the radio. "As Metropolitan PD continues to crack down on illegal street racing, siting the danger to both drivers and pedestrians—" With a huff he turned off the radio and drove to a street race.

"Not from around here, European design?" they guy in the car next to him asked. Inside his vehicle, Knockout just rolled his eyes at the man's foolishness. "Sure is pretty, too pretty." Sticking out his hand, he used his ring to carve a jagged line in the paint.

Adjusting his mirror, Knockout shook with barely contained rage at the sight of the blemish on his perfect finish. "Big mistake!" he growled as the man light the flashlight, signaling they could go.

The guy who ruined the finish pulled out in the lead, smiling as the others faded to dust. Making a turn, he looked in the rear-view mirror when the loud squeal of tires sounded and the red sports car appeared, gaining rapidly.

Knockout smirked and bumped the rear end of the man's car. "No one touches the finish!"

"HEY!" the man screamed as he was jostled in his vehicle.

As they made another turn, Knockout got in the inside, making an extra hard turn, he used the rear of his car to knock the other one through the guard rail and down towards the ravine. Inside his car the man groaned, looking up to see the headlights of the other car. "You scratch my paint, I scratch yours!" Knockout smiled before speeding away.

-.-

August 27, Jasper High School

Bumblebee walked out of school, as he predicted, the first day of his senior year was going to be as boring as the rest, the only new things he would be learning would be in art and music, he already knew everything else, which is why he had over eighty colleges on his tailpipe and several Earth doctorates already in his name.

"Hey Brandon," Jackson Darby, a sophmore and the son of one of the nurses that worked under Ratchet (aka Richard Pax) at the hospital, said as he got to his car.

 _"_ _Hey Jack,"_ he replied pulling out his phone. _"_ _What's up?"_

"Not much, just seeing how your summer was?"

 _"_ _Crazy, yours?"_

"Boring as ever, you still doing sports this year?"

 _"_ _Hey, the national champions in swimming, basketball, and track can't get lazy now can they?"_ he replied with a smirk.

"You forgot weights," Jack added as he got his helmet for his motorcycle on. "Why is it you're prefect at everything? And where do you find the time?"

Brandon shrugged, he himself was honestly amazed where he managed to find the time to do all these extra-curriculars, after Robin recommended them to maintain a solid secret identity.

Jack's phone buzzed and he checked it. "Sorry man, gotta go, Mom's about to have a panic attack."

 _"_ _Tell Mrs. Darby I said hi."_

"Will do!" he said driving off.

Opening the passenger door, he tossed his bag in, before closing it and going to the driver's side.

"Nice pedal car," the local school bully, Vince, sneered.

 _"_ _This pedal car as you call it can go from zero to eighty-five in one point five seconds,"_ 'Bee replied. _"_ _Much faster than that old 1997 Mustang ya got there. Later."_ Getting in he rolled down his window, giving him the one finger salute before speeding off.

About a block away he came to a red light, still chuckling slightly at Vince's face. "Hey." Looking out his window he saw a girl in his class. "Brandon, right?"

 _"_ _Yea."_

"I'm Sierra," she smiled.

 _"_ _I know, we're in the same music and art classes."_

"Yea, you're really good."

 _"_ _Eh, I'm not that great."_

"You are way too modest," she smiled. "You're an amazing artist, and you play the guitar and piano! Not many guys can do that."

 _"_ _Not many guys grew up in a war either and needed to find ways to keep themselves sane,"_ he thought. He was about to reply when Vince drove up. "Hey, small city," he sneered.

 _"_ _Go fall in a hole."_

"How do you think cheer captain here would feel if we saw which muscle car was better?"

 _"_ _Are you seriously challenging me to a race?"_

"Well? What do you say?" he snickered. "Or is the great Brandon Pax, top member of the three-year national championship winning teams afraid to lose?"

 _"_ _That's illegal."_

Vince laughed at his words. "Figured, you're too much of a goody-two-shoes to man up and accept the challenge. Some champ you are, you're just a weakling who's afraid of a real challenge!" he sneered.

 _"_ _Ready when you are Vinny."_

Vince smirked. "Dirt road by Trucker's Ranch."

'Bee frowned, it was close to base, but luckily for him Optimus was in New York for an emergency meeting and should be back in three days.

-.-

"From here to the next mile marker," Vince said. "Ready? GO!" Speeding off, the cheater got a head start. Vince smirked as he glanced back and saw the yellow and black car speeding behind him.

Bumblebee smirked, before kicking in the energon pumps.

Glancing back again, Vince grinned, but that quickly vanished when he saw that Brandon wasn't there anymore, hearing a horn, he looked next to him and saw the car do a wheelie before shooting way ahead. _"_ _Take that,"_ he smiled before heading home.

-.-

Nemesis

Breakdown stood on the side of the med-bay buffing their comatose leader's vehicle armor, and his normal armor, having finished cleaning out all the small bits of scrap left in his wounds and stitching them up.

"Ah, Breakdown," Starscream said entering. "Any changes in Lord Megatron's condition?"

"Nothing major, mostly cosmetic," he replied.

"Well, I'm sure you and the good doctor have been doing everything in your power…Where is Knockout?"

"I can't believe the nerve of that scraplet!" Knockout cursed walking into the room. "He messed up my finish! My perfect finish! Do you know how long that takes to fix!?"

"You've been street racing again haven't you?" Starscream grumbled running a hand through his greasy brown hair.

"What? I'm an automobile enthusiast," he replied.

"Knockout, I do strive to run a tight ship! I strongly suggest that you seek my permission next time you want to disappear on one of your little…outings," he warned.

"No worries Commander."

"It is Lord to you!"

"Only if Megatron takes a nosedive," Knockout shrugged.

"The day our master emerges from stasis, I will gladly relinquish the title, but I believe that outcome is unlikely. Something to do with the quality of medical care around here," Starscream sneered. "So continue buffing, we do want Megatron looking his best for the funeral."

When he left, Breakdown turned and was about to continue his prior task, when his partner tapped his shoulder. "Can I borrow that? I need to fix my paint job."

-.-

August 28, Jasper High School

"Dude! Way to go!" Miko, a sophmore exchange student from Japan, cheered as he got to school.

"Yea," Rafael, a twelve-year-old freshman that 'Bee volunteered to mentor over the school year, said walking over with Jack. "You beat the pants off that blow hard bully!"

"The whole school knows about how you kicked his butt," Jack said.

Grabbing all three of them he pulled the off to the side. _"_ _Guys we need to keep this on the DL, especially from my dad. He'll kill me if he finds out! Ok?"_

"Our lips are sealed!" Miko nodded.

The rest of the day passed mostly uneventfully—if having someone set fire to the kitchen just by pouring milk into cereal doesn't count as eventful—save for the few glances and high-fives tossed his way. As the final bell rang, 'Bee sighed in relief, eager to go home and get out on patrol, pit he may even just go drive into one of the abandoned buildings he knows no one goes to, get into his armor there and then go on patrol.

"Hey Brandon," Sierra smiled, leaning against the door. "I've been looking for you. The race! How great was that?! I was like; 'Yeah! Go Brandon!'"

 _"_ _It's no big deal,"_ he said rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I'll say," Vince sneered shoulder checking him. "If you think you can run with the big boys, the circuit, tonight, eleven pm."

-.-

 _"_ _I'm a moron,"_ 'Bee sighed as he sat on a roof overlooking the city. He'd gotten his homework done in ten minutes, giving him enough of an excuse to go out on patrol to burn off some steam. _"_ _Why did I agree to this?"_ Checking his internal chronometer, he sighed, it was almost ten-thirty, and it was a twenty-minute drive. _"_ _So much for changing out of my armor."_ Swinging into his car, he retracted his battle mask, thankful for the reflected windows that let him easily see out, but kept others from seeing in. _"_ _Just this last time, or I'm dead."_

-.-

/Knockout, Starscream's looking for you again/ Breakdown said. /Where'd ya go?/

"Out for a little drive, I just roll around from town to town till…" he stopped as a car honked and sped by, "opportunity presents itself." Smiling he sped towards the city of Jasper, Nevada.

-.-

Bumblebee drove up to the racing group, feeling not only uncomfortable by being in his armor, but guilty that he wasn't doing his job and at least warning these idiots of the danger they were putting themselves in.

Pulling up next to Vince, he saw the obnoxious red-head smirk at him. Sighing, 'Bee looked ahead as Sierra walked to the middle of the track, waving flirtatiously at him, making him blush slightly. "CIRCUIT DRIVERS ARE YOU READY?! MAKE IT MEAN! BUT KEEP IT CLEAN! FIRE THEM UP IN FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO!"

The cars sped off, Bumblebee and Vince tying for the lead, Knockout not far behind. "Well, well, if it isn't the Autobot called Bumblebee," Knockout mused as he watched the teen shoot ahead of the pack. "Finally, a challenge."

Driving up next to Vince, he slammed against him, getting ahead to second.

 _"_ _Frag,"_ 'Bee cursed lightly as he saw the Decepticon. _"_ _Knockout…"_ taking evasive action, he drove up onto the sloping side of the flood basin, seeing the Con pull out his guns. He put on his mask and drove over the edge, followed quickly by the Con.

"What the…?" Vince questioned as he saw the two cars, one having fancy guns shoot at the other.

 _"_ _Slagger,"_ 'Bee grumbled as he saw that he was still being pursued. Sighing, he turned on his comm-link.

-.-

Base

"Has anyone seen Bumblebee?" Erica asked, walking in on the rest of the team who was holding a video game competition.

"Hasn't come in yet," Wally replied.

 _/Hello! Anyone there?!/_

"Speak of the devil, where are you?!" Emerald said putting on her ring, showing her green and blue suit.

 _/I'm being chased by Knockout!/_

"'Bee don't engage!" Arcee warned.

"Just how did you get in this mess in the first place?" Bulkhead asked. "Were you street racing?"

 _/…/_

"Bumblebee Sparkfire Prime! Do not tell me you were street racing!" Erica scolded.

 _/Technically I was going undercover as one of them in a street racing gang so I could put a stop to it/_ he replied, which wasn't a total lie, he was planning on coming in his alter-ego another night to scare the living scrap out of them.

Bulkhead and Arcee sighed got in their vehicle armors. "Emerald, M'gann, Wally, Superboy, come with," Arcee said.

-.-

Desert Outside Jasper

Pressing a button, 'Bee spilt a bunch of lubricant onto the road behind him, as he continued evading the shots fired at him. The moment the Con hit the substance he started spinning and sliding around, allowing 'Bee to get far enough ahead to drive down under a bridge to hide.

Knockout drove over the bridge and turned off his engines, listening for the sound of another turning on. No sound came, shrugging he, turned his own car back on, and drove off, searching for the evasive Autobot.

Once the Con left, 'Bee sighed in relief; however, that was short lived as Vince drove up and got out of his car. "PAX!"

Up ahead, Knockout stopped as he saw the light in his rear-view mirrors, spinning around he drove towards the bridge.

Bumblebee got out of his car and the bully froze, gawking at him. "Y-you're not Pax, y-y-you're Bumblebee! The superhero! I'm a big fan! I'm so sorry for looking like I was about to beat you up, because, honestly, your car looks just like this one guy's from my school, not that he's a bigger fan than I am, because I'm a much, much bigger fan, I have to say I'm actually your biggest fan! Not that I stalk your movements all the time, I just like watching your fights on the news and YouTube…"

Realizing he was rambling, 'Bee raised a hand to shut him up. _"_ _Look kid, I don't have time for this! You need to get out of here right now! Before something bad happens!"_

"I can help! I'm a good guy too!"

 _"_ _What I need you to do is to leave!"_

Knockout reached down and plucked the teen from off the ground. He was tossed up in the air, before finding himself strapped inside the sleek interior of a fancy car with a terrifying red-eyed red-head grinning at him. "Hold still," the man smiled before Vince's world went dark.

 _"_ _Before something like that happens,"_ 'Bee growled as he watched KO drive off.

"Breakdown, you'll never guess what I'm packing: Bumblebee's human companion," Knockout grinned. "And when the Autobot attempts to rescue him…"

/He has a Breakdown/ his partner chuckled.

Summoning his car up, he saw Arcee, Bulkhead, and Emerald and M'gann approaching. Arcee transformed, so did Bulkhead, not before letting Superboy and Kid Flash get out of the car though.

Emerald walked up and smacked him upside the head. "YOU ARE IDIOT!" she scolded. "Why on Earth did you think this was a good idea?!"

 _"_ _We can discuss IQs later, right now we need to catch Knockout, he kidnapped Vince."_

"What would he want with your school's bully?" Wally asked.

 _"_ _He probably thought he was my human friend. Doesn't matter he's in trouble!"_

"Oh well," Erica said. "Tough break for him."

 _"_ _Emerald!"_

"What? He's an aft!" Bulkhead agreed.

 _"_ _I'm not arguing there"_ 'Bee said pinching the bridge of his nose just above where his mask stopped _, "but he's also innocent."_

"Let's go!" Arcee said.

-.-

Base

"You think 'Bee's ok?" Artemis asked. "They should've called by now."

"Don't worry," Aqualad reassured. "They'll be fine."

Hearing footsteps, the small group froze as Optimus walked into the room. "Optimus, you're back…early…" Robin smiled.

"Yes…the issue was resolved before any drastic measures needed to be taken," he replied looking around. "Do you know where the others have gone?"

"Nope! We don't know!" Artemis smiled stiffly, she may've been trained to lie, but there was no way this would work.

"Artemis is correct, we do not know," Aqualad said with a shy smile.

"Why would we know?" Robin added, his voice oddly high.

Optimus raised an eyebrow and frowned at the peculiar answer.

-.-

Jasper

Knockout sped past the team as they searched for him, the group flew/sped after making him frown. "He brought company…"

"Be on your guard, could be a trap," Arcee warned.

"He has a hostage, so no lethal shots," Kid Flash reminded.

Turning a corner Bulkhead let Superboy out of the vehicle before he and Bumblebee transformed, walking into the storage yard. Arcee climbed up a water tower, as Emerald and Miss Martian flew up above.

Ahead of the group on the ground, a pair of headlights turned on, just as shots burst out of the wall next to them. Breakdown charged out, punching down towards where they were standing a moment ago. Bumblebee flipped back as Breakdown tried to hit him, getting in a lucky punch, the scout was tossed back. Bulkhead ran up from behind and hit him, and, as usual, the two began to duke it out. Bumblebee fired a few shots distracting the Con as Superboy jumped up and punched him in the faceplate, knocking him back.

"Where's the two-wheeler?" Knockout grumbled just as Arcee landed on the hood of his car, punching the hood. "WATCH THE PAINT!"

Breakdown lifted Bumblebee by his arm, smirking 'Bee shot him, forcing the Con to drop him in shock. The young scout gave two swift uppercuts, before doing a backflip, kicking his face in the process, knocking right into Bulkhead's and Superboy's waiting fists of fury.

Knockout sped out of the area, trying to shake Arcee off of him. Seeing her debacle, KF, Emerald, and M'gann chased after.

Bumblebee was proving to be a difficult adversary in Breakdown's opinion, mostly in the fact that he was so slagging quick. He'd swing one way, the teen would be on the opposite side of him in the blink of an eye!

/Uh, Breakdown, in case you're looking for me, things got messy, so I hit the road. One scrape is enough for today/ Knockout commed.

Bulkhead and Superboy ripped out two lamp-posts from their spots. Bulkhead swung first, hitting the distracted Con, making him fly towards the clone at alarming speeds. Superboy just smiled and swung his own, sending flying into a warehouse.

Arcee and the others got on KO's tail, smirking he floored it, speeding far ahead of the group. "Eat my dust," he smirked, knowing they wouldn't try anything too brash with a hostage in the car. A loud horn sounded next to him, and Optimus appeared from around a rock bend. Slamming into the car, he sent the Decpeticon spiraling into a ditch.

/Knockout has a hostage/ Arcee warned.

"Understood," Optimus said transforming. Walking over, he picked up the car by it's rear-end and ripped the passenger door off, pulling out the hostage.

Knockout transformed, getting out of the Prime's grip, looking at his arm he shook with rage. "Do you know how hard that is to replace?!" Looking up he saw the Lantern and Martian flying over, as well as the others coming up behind them. Growling he flipped into a transformation and drove off as fast as he could.

Optimus looked at the escaping Con before turning back to the team. _"_ _I can explain,"_ 'Bee said.

"We must get this boy to safety immediately, explanations can come later," he said. "From all of you."

Wally, apparently unfazed by the ominous tone, raced over and started dragging the red door. "SOUVENIR!"

-.-

Vince groaned as he woke up, looking around, he barely kept himself from having a fangasm at the sight of Bumblebee sitting next to him! Not just that; he was in his car! He was in an Autobot's car!

 _"_ _You ok?"_

"A slight headache, what happened?" he asked trying to play it cool.

 _"_ _Some criminals. I was waiting for back up when you showed up and revealed my location, thank you very much."_

"Sorry," he said noticing the irritation in his hero's voice.

 _"_ _What the pit were you doing out there anyways?!"_

"I…uh…I was…"

 _"_ _You were street racing, weren't you?"_

"Yea," he sighed.

 _"_ _Look kid, that's dangerous, you could've been killed!"_ 'Bee snapped stopping his car next to Vince's. _"_ _I'm letting you off with a warning this time, but if I hear of any of you doing something like this again, I'm turning ya in. Got it?"_

"Yes sir!" he said nodding fiercely.

Bumblebee nodded, glad he finally got the whole mess fixed. _"_ _Tell that to your friends too."_

Putting petal to the metal, he drove back to base, leaving Vince who just grabbed his phone to call his friends.

"GUYS! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHO I JUST MET!"

-.-

Nemesis

"KNOCKOUT!" Starscream shouted. "WAS I NOT CLEAR BEFORE?! YOU HAVE DEFIED MY ORDERS YET AGAIN!"

"My apologizes Commander Starscream, but I've learned my lesson," he said. "And payed the price…"

"IT IS LORD!" he screamed. "And you've paid, when I say you've paid." Opening his head, he flexed his clawed fingers. "Don't worry, your punishment is merely…cosmetic."

"No…not the finish! ANYTHING BUT THE FINISH!" he pleaded as the seeker ruined his paint-job. "NOOO!"

-.-

Auotbot Base

'Bee stared at the ground after finishing giving his explanation of what happened, luckily he was last, so no one heard the conversation, but it didn't change the fact that his father was giving him _that_ look.

"Bumblebee, I am disappointed in you," Optimus said. "You acted brashly and without any regards for the rules you've been given for while we are on Earth. What I am most disappointed in is the fact that you acted without considering any of the less…illegal options."

 _"_ _I'm sorry."_

"You're grounded for three days. No seeing friends or the team, no patrols, no missions. You are to go straight to and from school and home during this time period, am I clear?"

 _"_ _Yes sir."_

 **A/N: to be honest, I feel like I could've done better with this chapter, but after going through and rewriting Lord knows how many times I just gave up and decided to stick with what I got.**


	19. Bug Problems

Chapter 18

 **A/N: I just own this story, Emerald Lantern is not mine, she is a friend's, and I don't own YJ or TFP. If I did would I be here?**

 **/comm-link/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee/Soundwave's speech_**

A ship flew through the solar system, flying past the moon, barely missing it, to crash-land on the blue planet.

August 31, Rocky Mountains

Arcee walked through the woods in her vehicle armor. Behind her Emerald and M'gann floated along as Artemis walked on the ground beside them swatting at mosquites.

"These things are the size of vampire bats!" Artemis growled smacking another one. "And they drink just about as much blood!"

"Didn't you pack any insect repellant?" Erica asked.

"Didn't think these monsters would be here!"

"You're all quite the outdoors women, aren't you?" Arcee chuckled.

"You're just making fun of the face we brought our weapons," Artemis said holding out her bow.

"Maybe."

"Well, when it comes to you Autobots and Emerald, you never know what could happen," Megan pointed out.

"Yea—HEY! I am not as bad of a trouble magnet as they are!"

"Yea, you're worse," Artemis retorted as Emerald huffed.

Arcee rolled her eyes. looking at the energon scanner she frowned. "That's odd."

"What is it?" M'gaan asked.

"Ratchet's readings were accurate, but subterranean energron deposits don't cause this kind of surge," she explained.

They continued to fallow the reading till the scanner beeped and they were standing in a clearing that was obviously not made naturally—if the giant trench resulting from a crash-landing was anything to go by.

"This was a crash-landing," Emerald said.

"Get ready for anything," Arcee warned as the girls got ready for a fight.

Sneaking through the forest, they arrived at the ship. "It's Cybertronian."

"Good guys or bad guys?" Artemis asked notching an arrow.

"Can't tell," Arcee said. "Wait here." Pulling out her blaster, they watched as she snuck up along the side, before cautiously going in. A few minutes later, she stumbled out, leaning against the side as old memories she tried to forget flashed in her head.

 _Flashback_

 _A woman with tri-colored hair and spidery legs crept towards a dark-haired man hanging from stasis cuffs._

 _There was a fanged smile._

 _Cruel, solid, violet eyes._

 _A deadly claw raised for a strike._

 _The splatter of freshly spilt energon-blood on the walls._

"Arcee? Are you ok?" Megan asked as they rushed over.

"I know who this ship belongs to," she said going for her comm. "Arcee to Base, I need a bridge ASAP!"

"Why? Who's ship is this?" Artemis asked noticing the woman's anxious posture.

"Base do you read?!" she asked again. "Scrap! Comm-link's dead! Ship's probably transmitting a high-frequency scrambler pulse!"

"Uh, Arcee, what's going on?" Emerald asked.

"Wait here," she ordered walking ahead. Looking around she saw slashes on the trees and small divots in the ground.

 _Flashback_

 _Arcee hung from a pair of stasis cuffs, struggling against them and the webbing binding her feet. Looking up she saw the woman with waist-length tri-colored hair, piercing violet eyes, matching armor, and four long spider legs emerging from her back._

 _Her tormentor smiled sinisterly as she coated a substance on her long, dark claws and reached out towards her face._

"Arcee?" the girls questioned, seeing her zone out.

Transforming Arcee motioned to Artemis. "Climb on, you two, keep up," she said. Starting her engine she sped through the forest, forcing the archer to hold on for dear life as the other two had to keep up and avoid trees. Artemis screamed as they jumped over a deep ravine and landed on the other side.

"Arcee to Base," she tried again. "Scrap! Stay here, I mean it this time."

"We've dealt with Cons before!" Emerald protested. "We're teammates!"

"No, your kids!" she reminded. "You're only here because this was a low-risk mission. Now the stakes are too high for you to be here. Got it?"

Before they could answer the Autobot sped away, leaving the three girls of the Young Justice League alone in the forest.

"We're following right?" Artemis asked.

"Oh, we so are," Erica said making a construct for her to get on.

Arcee drove further away before transforming and pulling out her blaster. Treading carefully, she froze when she saw a tree, eaten away by green acid.

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _Arcee to Delta Team, requesting rendezvous coordinates, do you copy?" Arcee asked racing through the war-torn city, making sure to avoid the main battlefront and the occossional bomb dropped from the air._

 _/Arcee are you lost again? Your sense of direction could use some improvement/_

 _"_ _So could your aim Tailgate," she replied. "If you got that sniper back at the artillery unit, I wouldn't have had to break rank and engage the enemy hand to hand."_

 _/From the sound of things you came out ahead/_

 _"_ _Wait for me this time and I'll give you the blow-by-blow. What's your position?"_

 _/A click from the depot, due north/ Tailgate informed. /Think you can find it partner?/_

 _"_ _Trust me Tailgate my navigation abilities are—AH!" A blast of thick webbing bound her to the crumbling remains of a building. She saw the spidery woman casually approach her before firing another shot of webbing, blinding her._

 _She woke up hanging up in the air in stasis cuffs, with her feet bound with the very webbing used to trap her._

 _"_ _Piece of advice," the woman's dark, silky voice said. "Make yourself comfortable." She held out a claw, which had a green substance on the tip. "You're going to be here a while."_

 _Acid covered claw drew a line on her face, Arcee grunted, refusing to show pain as the acid ate away at her cheek._

-.-

A black, silver, gold, and violet Decepticon in vehicle armor silently approached a campsite on long spider-like legs.

"My first local," she smiled. "Time for human-kind to feel the spider's bite."

Pouncing, Arcee slammed the Decepticon out of the air before she killed the human. The pair rolled down the hillside, before slamming painfully into a cliff along one of the mountains. Both women got up and glared at each other.

"Arcee, small universe."

"Too small Arachnid."

"You're still holding a grudge? The war's been over for megacycles," Arachnid said.

"Tell that to the Decepticons!" Arcee snarled, getting into a fighting stance.

"These days I travel solo, in pursuit of my new hobby."

Arcee growled as she remembered what she saw on that ship; the severed, and preserved heads of various alien species. "I got a look at all your souvenirs."

"You mean my trophies," Arachnid corrected. "I collect endangered species, of course they aren't really in endangered till they meet me. And I have a slot reserved for human!"

"Not gonna happen!" Arcee snapped, charging her.

She knocked the other woman over and was about to punched her lights out, when Arachnid used her extra limbs to hurl the Autobot away. Arcee pulled out her guns and fired as Arachnid leapt into the trees. She webbed her nemesis' arms together, when she used them to yank her out of the trees and onto the ground. Pulling out her arm-blades, Arcee cut the ropes away, doding the shots Arachnid fired at her by using the trees. Running up onto an old, bent one, she leapt off and gave a roundhouse kick in the air, slamming the other woman down onto the ground. Arcee placed her gun on Arachnid's spark, ready for the kill-shot.

The sound of a twig snapping caught their attention, looking up they saw the girls staring at them. Arachnid used the opportunity to knock the other woman off of her, before webbing her to the cliff-face.

"Arcee!"

Arachnid turned and smiled at the three girls rushing towards them. Pulling out her arm-blade, Arcee cut some of the webs away before shooting Arachnid into a tree.

"I told you to stay put!"

"You did, we didn't listen," Artemis stated as they all started to remove the webbing. "Teammates don't leave teammates behind."

"You aren't my teammates, you're liabilities!"

"You don't believe that Arcee," Miss M said as she telekinetically removed some more of the webbing. "I can feel your emotions: you're scared. And you're never afraid of anything."

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _You know, for an Autobot, your resilience is quite impressive," Arachnid purred as she circled her captive. "In fact, I'm guessing, that no matter what I do to you, you'll never crack. Am I right?"_

 _Arcee looked up and sent her a venomous glare._

 _"_ _That's what I thought," she smiled._

 _The doors opened and two soldiers dragged in an unconscious, beaten man with dark hair. Upon seeing him Arcee's eyes widened in horror. "Tailgate," she whispered. He groaned in pain as the hung him by stasis cuffs, making the other captive shake with rage. "What have you done to him!?"_

 _"_ _Not much," Arachnid chuckled. "Yet." The Decepticon woman walked up and held her chin. "Just tell me what I want to know, or, well, you're a smart Bot. I think you can imagine what happens to Tailgate next."_

 _"_ _I don't know the attack coordinates!"_

 _Arachnid's face morphed into an angered sneer and she strutted towards the male captive._

 _"_ _I swear upon the All-Spark it's the truth!"_

 _"_ _We shall see," the other woman replied raising a deadly spider leg._

 _"_ _No! Please!"_

 _Arachnid hissed and blood-energon splattered across the walls._

 _"_ _TAILGATE!"_

"You're right, I am afraid, of losing any one of you!" Arcee confessed making the girls freeze in place.

"You sure have trouble hanging onto your partners don't you," Arachnid chuckled as she crept towards them. "We both know what happened to Tailgate, but I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter regarding the passing of Cliffjumper. At some point you really have to ask yourself Arcee: is it them? Or is it me?"

"You get it girls! She doesn't want me! She hunts indigenous species, and she's on Earth! That means you! RUN!" Arachnid fired more webbing, restraining her to the wall as the three girls flew off.

"And that's why I prefer to work alone," Arachnid laughed, crawling on the wall upside-down over Arcee. "I hate it when bad things happen to those close to you. Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to kill snuff your spark, and trust me, I will make it hurt; but that won't compare to the pain you'll feel when I slaughter one of the humans and the Martian to add them to my collection." Arachnid crawled off and chased after the girls, whose flight allowed them the advantage of not leaving her a trail to fallow.

"GIRLS!"

The three quickly flew through the forest, Artemis was safely inside a bubble Emerald made as she and Megan flew along.

"That's the spirit ladies! Play hard to get!" they heard Arachnid cheer.

"M'gann! Go into camouflage mode and help Arcee!" Emerald said.

"Got it!" she said pulling up her hood and disappearing. She went above the tree-line before circling back.

Arcee continued struggling against the webbing, screaming in frustration and pain.

 _Flashback_

 _Arcee screamed in anguish as Tailgate was murdered. She hardly even registered that Arachnid's deadly claws were moving towards her when the door imploded. A woman with golden hair just as long as Arachnid's, bright yellow and red armor, pale skin, and fierce blue eyes slid in with a twelve-year-old Bumblebee._

 _The child pulled out a gun and killed the vehicons as the Autobot woman retracted her battle mask and gave Arachnid a blood-chilling smile, pulled out a sword and lunged at the spider. Cliffjumper raced in once Arachnid was chased off._

 _"_ _Get her outta here!" the blonde woman commanded as Cliffjumper picked her up bridal style. "Bumblebee! With me!"_

 _"_ _I couldn't save him! I couldn't save my partner!" Arcee cried as she was rushed out._

"Need help?" Miss Martian asked appearing in front of Arcee.

"Sure thing partner," she smiled as they began to work together to get her out. After a few minutes they broke free.

"We need to find the others!" Megan said.

"Lead the way," Arcee nodded.

Emerald and Artemis dove down under a fallen tree, hoping Arachnid would be more interested on looking up in the sky for them rather than down on the ground. They heard the quiet taps of the spider legs walking and an eager hiss as she slowly passed over them.

"Hello girls," Arachnid said coming face-to-face with them.

The pair screamed as Emerald got Artemis on a small platform and the archer got ready to shoot the spider-woman chasing after them.

Artemis fired an arrow at her, which she caught with a smirk before it exploded and tossed her back. they flew towards the ship and the archer grabbed another explosive arrow and smiled once she saw something near the back. "Drop me off where I have a clear view of the engines. I have a plan."

Arachnid jumped the ravine once she regained her bearings after the explosion. "I'll admit, you girls are making this game very entertaining. Did you know I hate being bored?" Arachnid asked. Getting through the woods she saw her ship and the green, glowing form with a green bubble flying towards the entrance. She walked down with a smile. "Just where did you two scamper off to?" Tapping her cheek, she smiled as she saw a green glow coming from inside the ship. "If you two wanted a tour, all you had to do was ask. Did you find the empty slots? Hope you like it, it's where you'll soon hang your heads!"

Emerald made sure to keep the glowing orb she sent in small and mobile before having it disappear, making her think she took her ring off to hide. Running over to Artemis she grinned. "All set," she informed grabbing a twig and snapping it.

"Girls?" Arachnid questioned.

Emerald snapped a few more and they saw Arachnid racing over the top of the ship. "Now?"

"Now," Artemis grinned firing the arrow. A moment later the ship exploded with Arachnid on it. Fist bumping, Emerald put the ring back on and made another platform and they flew back towards where Arcee was stuck, and if not, was heading towards them.

Emerald was caught off guard by the webbing suddenly shooting out and sticking her to a tree.

"Em!" Artemis gasped as she fell to the ground and was caught in webbing herself.

Looking up, in the tree was a semi-on-fire Arachind, who looked downright livid. She cried out as she was lifted up into the middle of the air, flailing wildly. The sound of a motorcycle came and Arcee came over the ridge slamming Arachind out of the air.

M'gann appeared in front of them and yanked off the webbing. "Nice light show."

"We figured you needed to find us somehow," Artemis smiled.

"Think we should help?" Emerald asked as they watched Arcee beating the scrap out of Arachnid.

Arcee kicked her through multiple trees for at least half a mile.

"Nah, I think she got it," Artemis said.

"You girls ok?" Arcee asked getting out of her vehicle armor and fussing over them.

"We're fine!" Emerald said.

"Yea, it was actually fun," Artemis agreed.

"That's cause you got to make the ship explode," Megan pointed out.

"True, it was an amazing shot."

"You sound like Wally."

"NO! FIX ME!" Artemis said grabbing Emerald's shoulders.

"You're fine."

The banter was about to continue when the sound of drilling came to them looking over they saw Arachnid drilling down into the ground, disappearing.

"ARACHNID!" Arcee screamed in fury as they rushed over, glaring down into the hole. "So much for closure."

"No Arachnid's stuck here on Earth…I'm not sure that's a good thing," M'gann sighed.

"I'm sorry you three had to face my demons today, you were all pretty brave," Arcee complemented.

"I was terrified," M'gann said. "Mostly for you."

"Yea."

"You said it."

Arcee smiled at them with a small laugh. "Ratchet requesting groundbridge. Need to get my partners away from any over-sized insects."

"Partners?" they all grinned.

"Junior partners, I can still pull rank," she warned.

"Guys, I have our souvenir for the display!" M'gann said levitating some of the webbing. "Though…we could use it to mess with the guys?"

"This is gonna be fun," Artemis and Emerald chuckled.


	20. Desert Memories

Chapter 19

 **A/N: OK, I AM NOT HAPPY! NETFLIX HAS REMOVED YOUNG JUSTICE FROM THE REGULAR BROWSING AREA! NOW IF YOU WANT TO WATCH IT YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE WEBSITES THAT BUFFER ALL THE TIME, BUY IT, OR WAIT FOR THE DVDs!**

 **I don't own YJ or TFP. Emerald Lantern is not my OC, I got permission from a friend to borrow her.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

 **"** **Other languages"**

Bialya, September 6

Miss Martian came out of camouflage mode, lying in the sand. Sitting up she held her throbbing head. **"** **Ugh…What happened?"** she groaned looking around to see nothing but desert around her. **"** **Where am I? It's not Mars…"** Grabbing the sand she noticed the differences. "Hello Megan! I'm on Earth!" Getting up she began to walk down the slope. "But how did I get here? Why am I wearing this costume? And why does my head hurt so much?" Slipping on the sand she slid down the slope. "Is this a dream?"

The sand exploded next to her, looking over she saw a boy with black hair, pale skin, and a wild look in his eyes. Looking at his shirt she recognized the shield on it.

"I know that symbol…are you Superman?"

The boy released a feral howl before ripping the fabric off and lunging at her. Flying out of the way she, looked to see him lunging again, this time she flew straight up in the air. He jumped after, jumping high enough to reach her. She created a telekinetic barrier, sending both of them flying in opposite directions from the force of his impact.

"Not a dream," M'gann said hugging herself as he leapt away, "a nightmare."

-.-

Robin stumbled through the desert, looking out he saw a cloud of dust approaching. Rushing up to the top off a rock formation, he pressed himself down, watching the truck full of soldiers pass.

"Those are Bialian Republican Army uniforms, but what are Bialians doing in…Bialyia," Robin said noticing his location on his holo-glove. "Rephrase: what are am I doing in Bialyia? In September! What happened to March?! Better radio Batman."

 _Batman and Optimus stood in front of a screen with the map of Bialyia on it. "Maintain radio silence at all times," Batman said."_

"Or not…" Leaping down, he walked over to the torn black cloth with the Superman symbol on it and picked it up.

He failed to notice the flash of yellow and black that appeared for one second before vanishing.

-.-

"Hey, wake up."

Artemis opened her eyes in a dingy shed, looking up she saw a red-headed boy in a black version of the Kid Flash uniform leaning over her. With a slight cry, she scrambled back.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm one of the good guys, you know: Kid Flash," he said.

"Seen Kid Flash on the news, he doesn't wear black," she replied.

"Not too clear on that myself. What about you? Green Arrow fixation?"

Looking down at her outfit she almost screamed. "Who put me in this?!"

"Wow, I am not touching that with a ten foot—so, you know how to use that bow?" he asked.

"Yea, my dad taught me. Dad! He must've done this, another of his stupid tests!" she growled.

"What kind of tests?"

"He probably wants me to kill you," she stated.

Kid Flash went pale, before yanking her out as they heard the incoming sound of a missile. The house behind them exploded, knocking them down. Looking behind them, past the wreckage, they saw three tanks and a few military trucks coming towards them.

 **"** **Don't let them escape!"** one ordered before open firing.

Artemis rolled out of the way of a few shots, spun around and fired an arrow at the front of the truck. The arrow exploded on impact, sending it flying over both their heads. Kid looked to see that the girl was still firing at them, putting on his goggles he raced over and swept her off her feet as the tanks fired.

"Sorry, they got bigger arrows," he said as the explosions went off behind them, and he weaved his way through more landing next to him.

"Thanks."

"Hey, like I said: good guy," he smiled. "Now, not to pry, but what's your name? And what's this thing you said about killing me?"

-.-

"I can't believe I'm actually on Earth! I've wanted this for so long!" M'gann gushed. "Even if it's not exactly like TV…But why can't I remember how I got here?" Stopping she flew into a meditation position. "Concentrate… _Remember…"_

 _The boy lunged at her before the image changed. He was standing next to a machine of some sorts. "Be careful," he said._

 _The picture changed again and she was in a kitchen. "Careful Superboy, they're hot," she cautioned as the boy took a cookie from the tray she was holding. Another guy with red-hair and in a yellow and red suit rushed past snatching the cookie._

 _"_ _Not as hot as you babe," he said taking a bite._

 _"_ _Thanks Wally, that's sweet," she replied as Superboy took another cookie._

 _"_ _Not as sweet as you sugar!"_

 _"_ _Grow up," two girls said smacking him. One was a blonde girl with bows on her back and the other was in a Green Lantern uniform floating over KF, taking a cookie. Behind them stood two more boys, one was small in a red shirt with a black cape, and the other was a little taller than Superboy with dual colored hair, and yellow and black armor._

 _/Team report to mission room/_

"I'm on a team! I have friends!" she exclaimed. "And Superboy who might be…I need to find him! Them!" Getting out of the position she began flying again. _"_ _Hello? Uh, team?"_

 _"_ _M'gann! Thank God! I've been trying to reach you guys for hours! What happened?! Stay where you are! I'm heading over!"_

She stopped and floated in place a moment later a green form flew over, and thankfully the name of this teammate came back to her. "Emerald!" she said hugging her.

"Good to see you two Miss M," she said. "What happened? I flew out of telepathic range for a few minutes, I come back and everyone's gone!"

"Sorry, I don't remember much," she shrugged.

Emerald nodded. "We can figure it out later, right now we need to find the others."

-.-

KF skid to a stop, and set Artemis down panting. "Sorry, running on empty, don't think I've eaten in a while," he said opening the emergency food container in his glove, only to find it empty. "Must've been out here over twenty-four hours. Or my stores wouldn't be bare."

Something landed between them, tossing them back. Looking through the dust, Kid was slammed back by a shirtless feral guy right into the cliffside.

Artemis backflipped away and fired an arrow at the charging boy. The explosive arrows she sent did nothing to slow him down, and she was forced to dodge again as he punched the ground where she stood.

A missile landed right at his feet, knocking them back.

-.-

Erica and Megan flew around, each grabbing their heads as they felt Superboy's pain over the link. "That way!" Emerald said pointing at the smoke.

-.-

Artemis got to her knees to watch feral boy leap out of the crater and towards the tanks. He landed on one, grabbed the gun and yanked the top off, hurling it away. The other tank fired, shooting him off the other one. Shanking his head, he leapt at the remaining tank.

"Who's side is he on?" Artemis asked.

"You wanna stay and find out?" KF asked.

"No!"

Grabbing her the pair raced away, as they went over one of the dunes, he tripped, sending them both tumbling down the sandy slope. Two drones swooped over their heads, before turning around and open firing. Kid Flashed pushed Artemis down to the ground as they passed again. Artemis sat up and notched an arrow.

 _"_ _Don't worry we're almost there!"_

Artemis balked, her arrow getting thrown off course. "Did you just hear a girl talking in your head?!"

"Girls are always on my mind," he snickered. "But they aren't normally talking."

Emerald and M'gann flew over the two planes. Making a baseball bat, Emerald swung down, crushing hers to the ground and M'gann used telekinesis to turn the other one into a crumpled ball of scrap metal.

They landed in front of the two who stared at them. Wally rushed up and hugged his cousin. "Emerald! Am I so glad to see you!" he said. "Artemis this is my cousin, Emerald Lantern. And J'ohn I'm not sure the new bod screams 'manhunter.'"

"Wally, this is M'gann, she's his niece," Emerald clarified.

"Your name's really Wally?" Artemis said and he groaned.

"We're teammates, friends. I made you cookies!" Megan said.

"You know her?" Artemis said. She could accept the cousin, but not the other chick.

"No beautiful! Never seen her before in my life!"

"I'm guessing you two lost your memories as well?" Erica asked.

"Yea."

"Well that explains that," she said. "C'mon I'll explain on the way since I seem to be the only one who managed to retain my memories. We still need to find the others."

-.-

Superboy pulled against the ropes holding his arms with eight men holding them on either side. Roaring, he yanked several of the men towards him.

"You must control his mind," one soldier said.

"Doesn't seem to be much mind left to control," the hooded man commented. "But, be still."

The clone stopped before collapsing to the ground, allowing the men to drag him into one of the trucks.

Behind some rocks nearby, Aqualad laid on the ground, unconscious.

Up on the ridge Bumblebee watched the scene through the scope of his sniper rifle. He aimed momentarily on the man who just held out a hand to make the wild man collapse, before slinging his gun over his shoulder. This wasn't his fight, he had to move and find a way back to Base.

-.-

Robin trekked through the desert heading for a signal on his holo-map. "Why did I put a GPS marker here?" he asked himself before stopping and seeing a device sitting randomly in the middle of the vast, sandy wasteland. "Guess that's why." Looking out he jumped over and was instantly surrounded as Bialian soldiers emerged from the sand.

 **"** **Her Majesty wants him alive!"**

Rolling his eyes, he dropped a smoke bomb. The soldiers stumbled through it, getting taken out by the boy appearing and disappearing through the smoke. Once it cleared, he tossed a few bird-a-rangs at them, knocking the guns out of their hands. Rushing up he jumped on one of the unarmed man's shoulders, did and spinning handstand kick, knocking out the two others charging him.

 **"** **Enough! Open fire!"** the leader said raising their weapons, they fired, but the bullets bounced off a green wall that rose in front of them.

"I'll take that! Thanks!" Kid Flash said running past snatching their guns.

Emerald flew above, making a rope to tie them all together. Two guys she missed charged up behind Robin but were tossed up into the air and hurled into a waiting green cage. Robin looked up and saw Miss Martian come out of camouflage mode.

One poor terrified soul tried to run by Artemis, who fired an arrow, which broke apart, releasing a rope that tied him up.

"KF! Emerald!" Robin said giving his best friend a high-five and hugging the Lantern. "It's good to see familiar faces."

"Memory loss?" they asked.

"Six months! Let's hog-tie these creeps and compare notes."

After a long explanation from M'gann and Emerald, the others took their time absorbing it. "So we're a team?"

"We just explained that," Erica sighed.

"Then this must be Superboy's," Robin said holding out the black cloth.

"Yea!" Miss M said taking it. "Did you see him?"

"I think we did," Artemis realized.

"Feral boy? Some teammate, he attacked us," Wally stated.

"He doesn't know who we are; I don't know who we are!" Artemis replied.

"So who do we work for? Because I remember Batman ordering radio silence, but Optimus Prime was there too," Robin said.

"How do we know we don't work for my mentor?" KF asked tapping his symbol only for his colors to change back to normal. "Whoa, this is so cool." He kept switching between them as the others without memories tried.

"Stop it!" Emerald said swatting his hand away. "Look we don't work for anyone, we're are our own team; but, Batman and Optimus send us out on missions."

"We need our memories back!" Artemis said.

M'gann's eyes glowed and she established a telepathic link.

 _The four looked around at all the memories and images flashing around them. "I've brought you into my mind to show what I remember so far. Our broken memories can create a whole, but I need you all to open your minds to mine," Megan said._

 _"_ _Knock yourself out," Emerald grinned._

 _"_ _You wanna hack our private thoughts?!" Artemis worried._

 _"_ _I don't mean to intrude…"_

 _"_ _You need our memories to figure out what happened to us," Robin said. "Go for it."_

 _"_ _My mind is all yours, try not to lets its brilliance overwhelm you," Wally said._

 _"_ _Or underwhelm you," Robin snickered. "Hey, why isn't anyone just whelmed?"_

 _Wally walked over and took Artemis' hand. "Last six months only, and only what you need," she said._

 _She connected their minds and an image formed._

 _"_ _The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialian Desert," Batman said._

 _"_ _Spectral analysis revealed non-terrestrial origins from several lightyears away in a different system," Optimus stated. "Find out what happened. Bialya is a rouge state, ruled by Queen Bee, and they are not on the League's UN charter. All communications are subject to interception, so maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Quirac on the Bialian border, two clicks north of the hot zone."_

 _The image changed and they were standing outside of the Bioship._

 _"_ _I'm going to check the far perimeter, see if we got any patrols coming our way, I'll come back in range if I got anything," Emerald said flying off._

 _"_ _All clear!" Robin said as Superboy carried the device off the ship._

 _"_ _The Bialians control the site."_

 _"_ _Set up here."_

 _"_ _We'll be up and running in no time," Robin said as he, Superboy, KF, and Bumblebee looked over the readings._

 _"_ _Jackpot! The site's lousy with Zeta Beam radiation!" Wally said._

 _"_ _No…this is stronger than Zeta Tubes…but I can't remember off the top of my head where I've seen this before,"_ _'_ _Bee said._ _"_ _There's non-terrestrial trace elements coming from the tent."_

 _"_ _I'll check it out in camouflage mode!" M'gann volunteered._

 _"_ _Good idea, take Bumblebee with."_

 _"_ _Be careful," Superboy said._

 _"_ _And maintain telepathic contact," Aqualad said._

 _"_ _I will Aqualad."_

"Aqualad and Bumblebee!" the others exclaimed.

"Where are they? What happened next?" Robin asked.

"Don't know, that's the last thing we all remember," M'gann said.

Artemis and Wally looked at each other before yanking their hands away from each other. "Kaldur's been wondering the desert for over twenty-four hours, well…that's not good for a guy with gills," KF stated.

"And what about 'Bee? He should've found us by now," Artemis noticed.

"Miss Martian, did you lose time in Martian or Earth time frames?" Emerald asked.

"Martian."

"Scrap! No wonder he hasn't found us," she cursed making them all jump back. Emerald hardly ever cursed, and if she did…well, it was never good. "If the same thing happened to him, he lost six Cybertronian months, meaning he has no clue where he's at."

"Good or bad?"

"Bad, very bad," Emerald said biting her lip. "They were still on Cybertron at that time, in the middle of an all out civil war. Now he's in an unknown location, which he will consider enemy territory. He will have no qualms about killing anyone that poses a threat, including us. On top of that is a Class A scout, that's the highest you can get! We won't find if he doesn't want to be found. Heck, I bet he's watching us right now…somewhere."

The others gulped at her explanation, they remembered seeing him fight Decepticons, and they didn't want to be on his bad side, which by the sounds of it, now they were. They all looked around, trying to spot the shadow possibly watching them.

"Anyways, we need to find Aqualad," Robin said locating him. "He's close…but not moving."

-.-

Inside a tent, scientists stood around electrocuting a giant sphere, and as it spun, that electricity hit Superboy, who cried out in pain. "Raise to shock level four."

They began to shock him again and the sphere began moving. "Fascinating," the hooded man smiled.

-.-

The group leaned over Aqualad, listening as he rambled on in Atlantian. "I can't restore his memories in this condition," Miss M said.

"He needs immediate rehydration!" Robin said. "Call the Bioship!"

"It's out of range, but you could get him there fast," she said looking at Wally.

"He's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel," he puffed. "Right now, I couldn't even carry her."

"Why not just levitate him back?" Artemis suggested.

"I can't! I need to find Superboy!" she said. "Six months ago, he didn't exist! He has no memories! Just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him."

"Superboy's indestructible, just ask the tanks," KF pointed out. "Kaldur needs your help now."

M'gann grabbed her head as she felt the clone's pain. "No! Superboy's in pain! It can't wait!" she exclaimed flying off.

"WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT ERASED OUR MEMORIES! IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!" Robin shouted.

Emerald huffed and made a large construct. "Get on! We're going to the ship, treating Aqualad, getting you food so you don't starve, and then we need to find 'Bee," Emerald said as they got on. Once the unconscious Atlantian was secure she lifted up and flew off towards the ship.

-.-

M'gann entered the tent in camouflage mode, she saw the spinning sphere and Superboy strapped down getting electrocuted. With a growl she rushed over, knocked the scientists out of her way and turned the machine off.

"Well, someone is certainly a glutton for punishment," the hooded man said lowering his hood, revealing a pale man, with a translucent cranium, showing his brain. "Psimon says… _Forget."_

 _M'gann gasped and stared as her psyche slowly stared to disappear in a white light._

 _"_ _Yes, forget, like before."_

 _"_ _Before?"_

 ** _Flashback_**

 ** _She and Bumblebee snuck up to the camp._** ** _"_** ** _Careful, camouflage mode isn't completely invisible,"_** **** ** _he warned._**

 ** _She nodded and tossed up her hood, going in through the front. Entering the tent, she saw Bumblebee sliding behind some of the equipment. "We're in," she said over the link._**

 ** _"_** ** _Good, but tread carefully—" Aqualad began._**

 ** _"_** ** _I know, 'Bee already warned me about my camouflage, and it's highly unlikely they'll catch him."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Focus on the task at hand," 'Bee reminded as they began testing the sphere again. "Non-terrestrial item located."_**

 ** _"_** ** _It's alive! In pain! Hello? Can you hear me?" she asked trying to contact it._**

 ** _"_** ** _I can," a new voice said. "And an open mind is a dangerous thing."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Someone's hacked the link!"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Psimon can't see you, Psimon can't catch you, but Psimon can make you all…FORGET!"_**

 ** _The team cried out as their heads exploded in pain, wandering off in random directions._**

 _M'gann pulled herself out of them memory, noticing that everything was almost gone. "No! I won't let it happen again!" she exclaimed and the light retreated and Psimon appeared._

 _"_ _Not really your call little girl," he sneered sending a brain blast that sent her flying back._

-.-

Emerald finished attaching an IV to Aqualad and getting food for her cousin, before looking at them. "So, here's the plan: I'll go out and search for 'Bee while you guys stay here, recover, keep an eye on Aqualad, and I'll contact you when I find him."

"What makes you think you're going to find him?" Robin asked. "A Class scouts can disappear in a blink."

"So can you," Wally said.

"It's different, I can still be tracked, they know how to cover their trail so well that not even Batman can track them down. Trust me, we tried."

"So why go alone, sounds like you'll need help," Artemis said putting her hands on her hips.

"He'll be more likely to come out if it's just one person, a whole group could scare him off," she stated. "Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on Aqualad."

As if to prove her point he started rambling again.

"How will you find him?" Wally asked.

"Simple, he finds me." Before they could protest she flew off.

"Hey, you never said why your Dad wanted to kill me," Wally said.

"Right, I got confused with a movie a was watching, where this ninja girl whose ninja dad orders her to kill her ninja boyfriend cause he's from a rival clan."

"So, I'm your ninja boyfriend huh?" he smiled.

"Hey, amnesia, remember? Completely forgot how truly annoying you are."

"Yea, like you're the goddess of congeniality!" he retorted.

"There's a private room in the back, you two want it?" Robin asked.

-.-

 _"_ _You have potential, but you're two raw, too untrained," Psimon said stopping the beam for a moment. "And not at all in my league." He fired a strong blast that went through her shield._

"Mr. Psimon?" a scientist asked waving his hand in front of the psychic's face. "Are you alright?"

Objects began to lift up of their resting places around the room. Woken by the disturbance, Superboy noticed a small distortion in the air next to him. Switching to thermal vision he saw a floating girl and the other people. Going back to regular vision he saw that the other three were the ones that had been torturing him.

His heart rate began to speed up, and the sphere began spinning. It broke out of its containment chased the scientists off and slammed into the controls for Superboy's restraints. Upon being released he lunged at Psimon, but a mental barrier knocked him back, as he stood up he placed his hand on the girl's knee.

 _"_ _You're here!" M'gann said as Superboy arrived._

 _"_ _You sound so relieved," Psimon laughed. "Is that mindless creature supposed to save your mind?"_

 _"_ _No, I save his," she said putting their foreheads together._

 _Superboy saw images flash before him; him attacking Robin, Emerald, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Bumblebee when he was first released. Their fight against Desmond to escape. The trip to save Fowler from the Cons. Driving with Bulkhead and KF. Fighting Mr. Twister. He and Miss Martian talking at Santa Prisca. Optimus promising to bring him back a snowball from his mission to the arctic, the scraplets. Wheeljack's imposter. Fighting Amazo. Joining the other proteges in their rebellion against their mentors. Training with Arcee and Black Canary. Meeting M'gann for the first time. The flash of some TV show he watched. Superman's rejections. Fighting the Fog. Batman and Optimus sending them on a mission to Bialya. And the pain that erupted in his head when Psimon attacked._

 _The final image that came was he and M'gaan in the kitchen. "I'm so sorry! It was too much at once! Hello Megan! That's so me…I…" she trailed off as she tried to clean all the gunk off of him._

 _Their foreheads sperated and he smiled as the memories faded. "Kick his butt." He took his hand off her knee, and left._

 _"_ _By all means," Psimon sneered. "Kick my psychic butt."_

Superboy looked to see several soldiers rushing in, only to be slammed away by the sphere that made a few warbles at him.

"Uh…thanks?"

It beeped again as more entered.

 _M'gann sent several disks flying at him, which he blocked with a shield. He fired a blast of his own, which she counted with a bubble shield. Dissolving it, she directed it around his attack. Psimon stopped absorbing the attack through a new shield. As he began dissolving his, he was punched in the face by the Martian girl. He grew bigger and fired again, but she duplicated and shot multiple beams at him. He spun around, knocking them back, making all but the real disappear. Seeing her she made a shield as he went on the offensive again._

Superboy and the sphere fought as the two telepaths floated in a psychic battle behind them. Hearing several cries, he turned around to see a few men floating in the air before I giant twister erupted around the dueling mental powers. He, the ball, and the rest of the soldiers were sucked into the vortex.

Getting to the inside, Superboy grabbed Miss Martian's hand.

 _"_ _He's too strong," she said trying to keep the shield up._

 _"_ _You're strong, and I'm stubborn, together!"_

 _"_ _Together," she agreed._

 _"_ _GET. OUT. OF MY HEAD!" they exclaimed, melding minds and sending a psychic blast at him._

Psimon screamed, clutching his head before getting sucked up by the vortex. M'gann collapsed and as she did, so did the twister, dropping everything it picked up.

The couple smiled at each other when the sphere rolled up to them and beeped. "Can I keep it?" Superboy asked.

-.-

 _"_ _Hey everyone, I've got Superboy! He's back to normal and we're on our way!"_

"Who are you?! And how did you get inside my head?!" Aqualad exclaimed sitting up.

 _"_ _Hello Megan! Aqualad's memories! I knew I was forgetting something."_

 _"_ _You're forgetting two somethings: we still haven't found Bumblebee,"_ Emerald sighed.

 _"_ _No luck?"_ Robin asked.

 _"_ _Not yet, but I think I have an idea where to check next."_

 _"_ _Man! I forgot something too! I didn't get a souvenir from the mission!"_ Wally whined.

 _"_ _Don't worry, we got it covered."_

-.-

September 7

Bumblebee looked through his scope, fallowing the red-haired girl flying low in the canyon, peering in shadows and small caves. He'd been tracking her for the past hour, and he'd heard her mention his name a few times in her irritated grumblings.

Taking aim, he took a breath and pulled the trigger.

-.-

"Thank you M'gann," Aqualad said as she restored his memories.

"Don't mention it Kaldur," she smiled.

"This is one awesome souvenir babe," Wally congratulated staring at the sphere.

"May I ask: where are Emerald and Bumblebee?" Aqualad inquired realizing they weren't present.

"We haven't been able to find 'Bee yet," Robin said. "Emerald went out to search for him."

 _"_ _GUYS! I FOUND HIM—ERR, WELL, HE FOUND ME! BUT HURRY!"_ Emerald shouted before the link went dead.

-.-

Erica held her leg trying to slow the blood flow as she leaned on the wall. The shot came out of nowhere, and it went clean through her leg. Whoever decided to shoot at her was good with their aim, because no major veins or arteries were severed, so that ruled out any Bialian. Their aim was about as good as a Stormtrooper's.

The sound of nearly-silent footfalls approached and her best friend's tell-tale blue eyes glowed in the darkness. She was relieved when he walked up, but then she saw the knife in his hand and the sniper rifle slung over his shoulder.

 _"_ _You're going to tell me exactly what I want to know, or I'm going to kill you. Got it?"_ he said pressing the blade against her throat. She nodded getting her ring ready. _"_ _Who are you?"_

"'Bee, it's me, Emerald Lantern, I'm your best friend!" she said hoping it would ring some bell.

He narrowed his eyes at that, he didn't really have friends. To other Autobots he was the Prime's kid, the sole survivor of the Tyger Pax Massacure. Heck, he had caretakers, but they weren't there often, and he was younger than them, too young to get involved in what they did. _"_ _Who sent you? Megatron? Starscream?"_

"Neither! Optimus did!"

Bumblebee narrowed his eyes, adjusting the blade he placed more pressure on it. _"_ _Likely story Con."_

"NO!" Superboy leapt out of the bioship towards his teammate who was about to kill Emerald. He slammed him out of the way, but the scout just flipped in the air, slid his hands along the ground and caught himself in a crouch.

'Bee put his weapons back in his subspace, no sniper gun would be of use in direct combat and the knife would just get in the way. Seems he took too long to deal with her since she called back up. Robin leapt down, but his foot was caught and he was tossed right into Artemis' arrow, which released a net, tying him up. KF rushed up and reluctantly punched him in the face, which only seemed to tick him off rather than do any damage. Bumblebee reached behind him and pulled out a grenade launcher. He fired right for the middle of the group, Superboy jumped and took the hit, it sent him flying back slamming into the ground.

 _"_ _I can't get in his head! His barriers are too thick!"_ M'gann warned.

 _"_ _It's no surprise, he was trained to withstand a mental attack by Soundwave!"_ Emerald said as she flew up as a Blue Lantern. _"_ _I can stop him, but I need you to keep him distracted."_

 _"_ _Leave that to me,"_ Superboy said getting out of the crater. He could take a hit better than the others, and he knew from training that 'Bee packed a punch. The only thing he wondered was just how much he was holding back in training?

Bumblebee leapt over the clone, landing on the ground, the swept his feet out from under him, before grabbing him by his arm and hurling him into the speedster. His arm cannon came out and he was about to fire when he was lifted up into the air and a blue chain bound his limbs to his side.

Emerald flew over from behind, ignoring the various curses he was flinging at them. Making sure the chains were holding, she made another construct that pried some of the armor away from the point she need to hit. His struggling made the task exceptionally difficult, but she managed to pry it away, and pinched the nerve point.

Both fell to the ground, one making sure to keep pressure off her injured leg, the other completely unconscious. "He'll be out for a few hours now. That should be enough time," she said wincing as Robin picked her up.

"Thanks," M'gann said entering his mind, which was easier now that his walls were down.

-.-

"The Martian girl managed to escape with both the sphere and the Superboy," Psimon informed the leaders.

"That hardly matters, what matters is the successful test of our partner's new delivery system." A video came up a what looked like a Zeta tube opening in the middle of nowhere.

"Boom Tubes, not as efficient as a Spacebridge, but still useful none the less. Our new friend, does not seem eager to disappoint."

"More tech will come. Tech that will put the sphere and possibly even the Superboy to shame."


	21. Sick Mind

Chapter 20

 **A/N: I just own the story.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy/mental planes_**

 ** _Synthesized voice capacitors_**

September 10, Autobot Base

Emerald laid on the couch in the rec-room with a bandage wrapped around her leg. It was still healing after the mission in Bialya, and Ratchet forbade her from doing anything strenuous till the stitches were healed, which thankfully judging by how her most recent check-up went, should be in a few days.

 _"_ _I'm still sorry about shooting you,"_ 'Bee apologized for what seemed like the millionth time. At least it wasn't as bad as when he first got his memories back, he couldn't even look her in the eye because he felt so horrible.

"It's fine 'Bee. You didn't remember who I was, so it's understandable," she chuckled. "Heck, even Superboy attacked us."

"She's right," he nodded before turning back to the video game trying to beat Wally, Robin, and Artemis in Super Smash Bros.

Erica grinned and yanked 'Bee down onto the couch between her and M'gann. "Besides, I'm pretty sure the universe was getting back at me for that string of pranks I pulled on the Corp a few months back. It took weeks to clean up Oa after that mess," she smiled getting a small one from him as he imagined the chaotic scene.

In the main room, Ratchet was typing away ignoring the noise coming from rec-room. Looking up at the screen he stopped as a signal appeared over China, it was the Nemesis.

"Optimus you're not going to believe this," Ratchet said pulling the Prime's attention away from the meeting he was having with the other mentors of the team. "I just pinpointed the location of the Decepticon warship."

"How did you penetrate their cloaking technology?" Optimus asked.

"I didn't; I was experimenting with frequency wavelengths when I stumbled across it," he explained. "Even so, they must be experiencing some electromagnetic breach."

"With Buckethead dead and the element of surprise," Flash said making a fist.

"We could cause some serious damage," Bulkhead agreed.

Another signal popped up on the screen in northern Africa. "Also on the same frequency, an Autobot emergency beacon."

"The Decepticons can wait, there may by Autobots in distress," Optimus said. "Ratchet, bring your medical kit."

-.-

Sahara Desert

Optimus, Ratchet, and the other mentors exited the groundbridge, looking up at the massive engines of the ship rising out of the dunes.

"A crash landing, buried here for centuries and we never knew," Batman said.

They cut a doorway in the hull and entered the ship cautiously as it moved under them as the sands shifted. "If they traveled in stasis there may be survivors," Ratchet stated as they approached a door.

Martian Manhunter used his telekinesis to open it, walking in they covered their noses as the scent of decay and death hit them. The rotting corpses of Autobot soldiers were sprawled across the room with a strange black and blue-violet substance covering them.

GL and Ratchet each scanned a body. "It wasn't the crash that killed them," Hal said backing away from the fluids spilled across the floor. "It was a virus."

"Put on your protection equipment," Batman said pulling out a few breathing masks and handing them out.

"Don't touch anything," Ratchet cautioned as Flash began to approach a body. "It could still be active."

"How? After who knows how many years, it should've died. Viruses need new hosts to survive, and no new ones have come in a long time now," he said.

The ship shifted underneath them and those who couldn't fly found themselves slammed into a wall. Something groaned above them and they all looked up to see a body drop down, hanging from the wires that kept it up there in the first place.

As it was jostled, fluid dripped off the body and into Optimus' eye.

-.-

Base

The others watched as Ratchet performed another scan on Optimus, they could see the discoloration in the veins surrounding his eye and the right side of his face, showing how fast the virus was acting.

"Cybonic Plague," Ratchet said grimly and those unfamiliar with the term noticed extremely worried glances get tossed between the Autobots. "It's only contagious if contact is made with the infected fluids."

"What was a plague doing on an Autobot warship?" Artemis asked.

"Its crew were infected, the virus broke out during the war, almost killed more people than the actual combat did," Arcee said.

"It was engineered in the Decepticon Biowarfare program," Ratchet said and their eyes went wide.

"Biowarfare?" Wally gaped. "Who created it?"

"Megatron," Ratchet growled.

"Is there a cure?" Batman asked.

"No…cure," Optimus ground out, gritting his teeth as more pain flared through his system.

Bumblebee took a step forwards to comfort his father, but Arcee put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back; leaving him only with the ability to do so through their bond.

"There has to be one," Flash said. "Creating a disease without a cure is improbable, what if the wrong person caught it?"

"It's not like we can ask Megatron, his pushing up lugnuts," Bulkhead retorted.

"But we might be able to access the Decepticon database," Batman said. "We still have a fix on their warship's location."

"Bumblebee, Emerald, Superboy, Batman, come with," Arcee ordered going towards the groundbridge.

"Arcee, hurry."

-.-

Nemesis

The group jumped out of the bridge, weapons drawn. "We'll start with the lab," Arcee said as they made their way through the ship.

Getting to the lab, they climbed/flew up to the upper corners of the hall as Knockout exited the med-bay. He stopped for a moment and looked around before shrugging and continuing on his merry way.

Arcee and Batman went to different screens and began their search, Emerald floating behind Robin as a translator. "We're in."

-.-

Base

Ratchet looked over Prime's vitals, trying to estimate how much time they had. "Ratchet?" Looking over he saw Optimus looking at him worriedly. "Was anyone else…?"

"Infected? No," he answered. This seemed to appease him because he relaxed slightly and closed his eyes, trying to get some rest.

/If it's here we can't find it/ Batman commed.

"Are you certain?"

/We searched the everything. Nothing/ Arcee growled.

-.-

/Well search again! Clearly you missed something!/ Ratchet snapped.

"We've scanned the entire database!" Arcee snarled.

The others watched as she argued with the medic, but Bumblebee found something more interesting in the back. Going to the window, he peered in. _"_ _Uh…guys…"_

/Did you use a redundant quantum algorithm?/

"Don't tell me how to research! Remember you aren't the only one who cares for Optimus!" she snapped.

 _"_ _Guys, you'll wanna see this,"_ 'Bee said a little louder.

"What is it?!" Arcee snapped walking over as the others looked between each other and shrugged. Going to the window, she almost jumped back in shock. And when she opened the door, the team saw why.

/What's going on?/ Robin asked.

"It's Megatron," Batman said. "He's alive."

-.-

Multiple gasps were heard from those listening in. "That's not possible!" Flash said. "He was right in the middle of that explosion!"

"He's right! There's no possible way he could've survived!" KF agreed. "He would've been crushed in the initial implosion, and his remains would've been scattered by the fallowing explosion!"

-.-

Arcee and Bumblebee pulled out their guns and carefully approached him. "Well we're staring right at him," Emerald said.

"Good news, he isn't exactly staring back," Arcee smiled. "He's critical, hooked up to life-support. Time to end this."

/No wait!/ J'ohn exclaimed.

"One good reason, fast."

/He might be the only hope for Prime's survival/ the Martian replied.

"How?" Arcee asked immediately lowering her weapon.

/Does he display brainwave activity?/

They looked at the monitor and scowled. "His sick mind is still working," Batman stated. "Meaning that if there is a cure he's the only one that knows it."

"In case you didn't notice we didn't bring a telepath," Emerald muttered.

"How exactly do you expect us to get the cure?" Conner asked.

/The Decepticon laboratory should contain all the equipment you need for a Cortical Psychic Patch/ Ratchet said.

"No way!" Arcee said, remembering her own experience with one. "Have you even performed the procedure?!"

/No/ he answered. /But I have studied the theoretical literage and actual results. It was invented by Decepticons and outlawed by Autobots/

"Can't we just drag Buckethead through the bridge, and buy us time to figure this out?" Superboy asked.

/Time is one this Optimus does not have! One of you must try this! I will not allow Optimus to pass knowing Megatron will outlive him!/ the medic snapped.

"Ratchet, I would lay down my life for Optimus, any time anywhere," Arcee said. "But a mind-body split…"

 _"_ _I'll do it."_

"You will?"

-.-

Those at base looked between themselves nervously. "Are you sure Bumblebee?" Aqualad asked.

"'Bee's the best scout there is," Bulkhead said. "If anyone will find the cure, it's him."

-.-

Nemesis

"Why has the electromagnetic shielding not been repaired?! Starscream demanded.

"The crews are working as fast as they can Lord—!"

He slapped the man, silencing him. "We are leaking a trail! All the Autobots need do is access the correct frequency wavelength to pinpoint our position! Accelerate your efforts!"

"Yes Lord Starscream," they said departing.

"Doctor in the house," Knockout said walking in.

Starscream sighed, perhaps the medic finally had some good news. "Ah, Knockout. And how is the patient doing today?"

"Same old."

Finally! Something to lift his spirits! "And in glorious fate, that he remains in this vegetative state?"

"On the contrary, Megatron's body may be scrap, but his mind in still percolating," Knockout replied.

And there went his good mood.

"Keep that to yourself!" he snarled quietly. "That blasted Soundwave sees and hears everything!"

"He's the eyes and ears of the Decepticons," the medic said.

"As long as their master remains in limbo, so does their cause. The Decepticons need a strong alert leader!"

"One who'd require a loyal SIC," Knockout suggested.

Starscream grinned sinisterly. "A candidate would need to earn that post, by making a strong case to said eyes and ears."

"A case for showing mercy, Lord Starscream?" he smiled.

"You scratch my back, I scratch yours," he replied, his good mood returning.

-.-

Arcee slid under the berth Megatron laid on and attached the chord to the port in the back. Going back into the vent they were hiding in, she looked at the teenager before her. "You ready?"

'Bee gave a thumbs-up, moving some of his hair so she could attach the other end to the base of his skull, right where it met the spine.

"Ratchet we're all clear here," Batman said.

/Initiate Cortical Psychic Patch/

Getting the thumbs up from the Dark Knight, Arcee carefully aligned the piece. "This may hurt," she warned before pushing it in. All she heard from him was a soft exhale as his eyes rolled back and he went limp in her arms.

 _Bumblebee looked around the new environment. Raging fires burned below the path he was on, smoke circling around the Cybertronian towers. At the end of the path stood Kaon's crown jewel, the gladiator arena._

-.-

"Communications downlink activated," Ratchet said as an image appeared on the screen. "This will allow us to see and hear everything Bumblebee does while in Megatron's subconscious mind. It will also allow us to communicate with him."

"Whoa, where is that?" Black Canary asked looking over the desolate environment.

 _/Looks like Kaon/_

"Wasn't that the Decepticon Capitol back on Cybertron?" Wally asked.

"Indeed," J'ohn confirmed.

"Ratchet…Optimus' vitals…" Flash trailed off.

"I know…"

-.-

 _/Quickly Bumblebee, I know you're in unfamiliar territory but you must find where information is stored in Megatron's mind/ Ratchet said._

 _Going up the steps towards the arena, 'Bee balked at the sight of his father standing there. Sending a slight push through the bond, he got a response confirming that he was still safely at base._

 _/That's just a figment of Megatron's mind, it cannot see or hear you/_

 _"_ _You think I didn't figure that out?!"_ _he said getting irritated with everyone telling him how to do his job. Hearing a familiar laugh, he dove behind the remains of a column, peering out cautiously._

 _"_ _Optimus Prime," Meagtron sneered from between the statues of him and his sisters, "your Autobot armies are defeated, bow before your new master."_

 _"_ _Never Megatron," the fragment said pulling out his sword. "One shall stand, one shall fall."_

 _"_ _So be it," he sneered bringing out his own sword. Jumping down they charged each other, ducking under the Prime's swing, he slashed through him, and his enemy evaporated into dust._

-.-

"That never happened," Bulkhead said.

"It's not a memory," Ratchet replied. "We're seeing Kaon as he's recreated it; in his darkest dreams."

"What happened at the real Kaon?" Green Arrow asked.

"Optimus' wife showed up and sent the Cons packing," Bulkhead laughed as he remembered their terrified screams as the women walked onto the battlefield. "No one wins a battle against Solarlfare, not even Megatron and Soundwave fighting together."

"She sounds like someone I'd like to meet," Artemis smiled.

"Believe me, she is," Bulkhead chuckled. "I swear I'd never seen Megatron run so fast in my life...though I think anyone would run from someone screaming at them to 'DIE' while waving around a giant axe."

-.-

 _'_ _Bee took deep breaths, trying not to act in rage. The rock he was hiding behind broke apart and another Optimus stood up, making him jump._

 _"_ _Megatron, your treachery ends here!"_

 _The tyrant turned around and put his sword away. Lifting his cannon, he fired, making dust fly past him._

 _'_ _Bee watched the scene only to realize his mistake when the warlord's eyes locked with his. He lost his hiding place._

 _"_ _The Autobot scout," Megatron sneered looking down at the child. "Punishment for trespassing in my domain…IS YOUR DESTRUCTION!"_

 _Before 'Bee could dodge, the sword went through him, but he wasn't hurt. "_ _Huh?"_

 _Megatron looked just as confused. "How can this be?!" he growled slashing again._

 _'_ _Bee just smirked behind his mask and started posing randomly as the sword went through, just to irritate the man. Which worked as he tried to shoot him, hit him, strangle him, and chop him up._

-.-

"He can't get 'Bee?" Wally asked.

"Because he's not a creation of Megatron's mind, Bumblebee is immune to his physical attacks," Ratchet explained.

The group laughed as they saw the warlord's absolutely irritated face as 'Bee continued to taunt him.

-.-

 _Megatron took a breath and began to circle him, trying to figure out just how he was avoiding his attacks. "You're not wearing a phase shifter, your eyes track my movements so you aren't a hologram, and I don't believe in spirits. So tell me scout: what are you?!"_

 _"_ _Megatron."_

 _"_ _Apparently I'm you,"_ _he said and the Decepticon leader tossed him an annoyed glance as they saw Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Batman, Superman, and the team appear._

-.-

"Looks like we're special guest stars," Wally said.

"This is not good," Ratchet said.

-.-

 _"_ _I'm just gonna, go over here,"_ _'_ _Bee said backing towards the group as Megatron looked between them and him._

 _Looking between the two Bumblebee's Megatron's frustration began to grow. With a roar he shot his cannon, and all but the one scout that he was interrogating before disappeared. "You are real. They were not!" he snapped meeting the teen's glare. He started to pace, when an explanation came to him. "A Cortical Psychic Patch. How unexpected…If this is my subconscious…WHAT ARE YOU DOING INSIDE MY HEAD?!" he demanded, getting in the scout's face._

"Just what are you doing in there?" Emerald wondered as she glanced back to her friend's prone form from where she was keeping watch along with the others.

The door opened and she bit her lip as three Decepticons walked in: Starscream, Knockout, and Soundwave, all heavy-hitters.

"Knockout, would you be so kind to provide your medical expertise," Starscream requested. "For the historical record."

"Simply put, unaided, Megatron could remain in this deathless slumber forever," the doctor stated.

"Our master would not have been wanted to be seen this way," Starscream said. "To stand idly by as he remains captive in his own body, is not just."

The silent man walked closer, and pointed at a monitor. "Brainwave activity," Knockout identified, "not evidence of consciousness, but merely of and endless dream from which Megatron may never wake."

"Soundwave, we must face reality, Megatron is lost to us," Starscream implored.

"The only honorable option would be to show him mercy," Knockout agreed.

"A simple throw of the switch, quick, painless, compassionate."

"Are you getting this?" Batman asked.

/If Megatron perishes, Bumblebee's mind will remain separated from his body, forever/ Ratchet replied.

"We'll lose 'Bee and Optimus!" Superboy growled, barely keeping himself from attacking the three Cons threatening his friends' lives.

 _"_ _The only way you could've entered my mind, is via Cortical Psychic Patch," Megatron stated. "But the question remains: what happened to me?!" He glared into the fierce blue eyes, and the image of the spacebridge implosion flashed for a second. "The Spacebridge…but…if you're in my head. I'm not one with the All-Spark."_

 _"_ _Not that you'd go there anyways,"_ _Bumblebee mumbled._

 _"_ _Tell me scout, do I still function?!"_

 _/Bumblebee! We're out of time!/ Ratchet informed._

 _"_ _Look, I don't have time for a Q &A. What I need is the cure for Cybonic Plague,"_ _he said cutting straight to the point._

 _"_ _Cybonic Plague?" Megatron asked looking shocked and genuinely concerned. "Someone besides myself is…is unwell?" Bumblebee nodded and the man thought before he started laughing. "Optimus! Such irony! After ages of endless battle, the mighty Optimus Prime, is felled by a simple virus from the distant past!" He wiped away the tears that came with laughing so hard before looking at the irritated teen. "And what makes you think I'd save the life of my oldest enemy?"_

 _"_ _Megatron, your treachery is—" The image was destroyed as the warlord shot it, anticipating the scout's answer._

 _Bumblebee smiled as the sight gave him an idea._ _"_ _Because, if you didn't, you wouldn't get what you want most,"_ _he said circling him._

 _Intriguing answer. "And just what is it I want most scout?"_

 _"_ _To kill Optimus Prime yourself,"_ _he replied darkly._

 _"_ _Did you not see? I do slay Optimus at will! Whenever I desire!"_

 _"_ _But it's not the real one,"_ _he stated._ _"_ _Be a shame if you couldn't watch the life leave his eyes as his spark extinguished. Guess you'd just have to settle for all these dust bunnies instead."_

"Soundwave? Do I take your silence to mean you concur with Knockout's advice?" Starscream asked grabbing onto one of the machines keeping Megatron alive. "Speak now, or forever hold your peace…going…"

Arcee aimed her gun at Starscream as the others prepared to attack as well, no way were they going to let them kill their friend.

"…Going…"

Soundwave pointed at something and the group cursed silently, he was pointing at the cable for the patch.

 _"_ _After out ages of endless battle, to not watch the spark edge from Optimus' eyes with my very own…"_

 _"_ _See, you let the plague kill him, and you won't get that chance."_

 _"_ _Well played scout," Megatron grinned, opening his hand and the formula appeared. "The chemical formula for the cure you seek, not that I expect you to know how to read it." 'Bee reached for it, but the warlord just closed his hand and held it closer to him. "Not yet."_

 _"_ _What now?"_

 _"_ _And how am I to accomplish terminating Optimus as you propose, while I'm trapped here in a daydream," he questioned. "Once you free me from this prison, you will have the cure."_

 _"_ _But how can I trust you to give the cure to me?"_

 _Megatron chuckled, the boy was smart. "Are you sure you're not a Decepticon at spark?"_

 _"_ _I'm sure of my side, which makes me doubtful of your trustworthiness to fulfill your side of the deal."_

 _"_ _I swear on my honor as a gladiator. You guarantee my recovery and I will provide you the cure," Megatron swore. "Otherwise Optimus fades to gunmetal gray; the real Optimus."_

"We have the cure! Disconnect Bumblebee now!" Batman orderedgetting the all clear from Ratchet.

Emerald rushed over, and carefully started to remove the device implanted in her friend's neural systems.

 _The world around them began collapsing, and Megatron shook with rage. "They were watching! YOU TRICKED ME!"_

 _"_ _It's called deception Megatron, thought you'd know it by now,"_ _'_ _Bee smiled as he retreated back to his own mind with a mocking bow._

 _"_ _NO! TAKE ME WITH YOU! TAKE ME!"_

" Hurry 'Bee!" Arcee said as the cable was fully disconnected. The others rushed over and made a defensive line as Emerald helped 'Bee stumble to his feet.

"What in—?!" Starscream gaped as he saw the Autobots and their human pets. A groundbridge opened behind them and they started rushing through. "INTRUDERS!"

"Allow me!" Arcee said firing her gun and hitting Megatron's life-support before jumping through the closing bridge.

The sound of Megatron flatlining rang out through the med-bay and Starscream hid a grin. "It was the inevitable outcome."

 _"_ _Put him back on the life-support, now!"_ the TIC said pointing at him.

"Of course, it would be wrong to allow him to perish at an Autobot's hand," he conceded. "Knockout."

The medic shrugged before reattaching the equipment.

-.-

Autobot Base, September 11

"Easy Optimus," Ratchet said as he helped his old friend to his feet.

"Yea!" the team cheered.

"Please, reserve the hero's welcome for my physician, and my scout," Optimus said making his son blush and rub the back of his neck nervously.

"Good job man," Superboy said slapping him on the shoulder.

-.-

Nemesis

"And how is the patient doing today?" Starscream asked walking into the med-bay.

"Funny you should ask," Knockout said. "I'm not sure what the Bots did in there, but Megatron's displaying zero brainwave activity."

"Meaning?"

"Physically he's stable. But now, there's no one home…"

-.-

Base

Bumblebee walked back to his room, eager to get away from the limelight and get some much-needed rest. Laying down on his bed, he rubbed his temples as a dull ache spread through his head.

 _"_ _There you are…"_

 **Mwah-ha-ha! Cliff hanger!**

 **Please review.**


	22. War and Peace

Chapter 21

 **A/N: I just own this story. I don't own TFP or YJ, and Emerald is my friend's OC.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

Taipei, September 13

"This is Cat Grant reporting live from Taipei, where the historic peace summit between South Rhelasia and North Rhelasia has completely broken down. As a last resort, Prime Minister Tseng of South Rhelasia, and North Rhelasia's General Singh Mahn Li, have agreed to bring in two independent arbitrators. But who are they? Speculation has run between the Secretary General of the UN to Superman. But the Man of Steel is unlikely because I've been told they will arrive by car, not cape, at any moment.

/Aqualad/

"Red Arrow," Roy identified. "I need access to the Justice League's database, and the exact height of the League of Shadows assassin known as Cheshire."

/Checking…Cheshire is 1.67 meters/

"Uh…"

/She's 5'6'' and extremely dangerous. Do you require back up?/

"Please, the last thing I need is the Jr Justice League," he scoffed clicking a button on his glasses. It began to scan the crowd till it got a match. A girl in a baseball cap working in one of the booths.

/Just our computer/ Kaldur chuckled. /Good luck my friend. Aqualad out/

Roy pulled out his bow and arrows as the cars holding the two arbitrators arrived, surrounded by police. Cheshire climbed up onto the top of the booth, aiming her rocket launcher at the lead car. An arrow hit her hand as she pulled the trigger, knocking the missile up into the air.

People ran away screaming as the leaders were instantly hoarded by protective personnel.

"Did you get that?! Did you get the shot?!" a reporter called.

Cheshire flipped off the stand, hopped of someone's head and landed near the cars. Guards came and started attacking her. Wriggling out of their grasp, she pulled out two knives and raced for the vehicles. Roy rushed out, jumped onto the hood of the second car, firing an arrow. She stopped to cut it out of the air, during which he used the opportunity to tackle her to the ground. The missile landed on the booth, and Cheshire took his distraction to roll on top. However, before she could act over a dozen guns were aimed at her head.

"We have just witnessed a live attempted assassination, thankfully no one seems to be hurt, including our mystery arbitrators; Orion Pax and…Lex Luthor?"

-.-

The cops shoved the assassin into the back seat and drove away, as Roy was restrained but Orion hung up the phone and nodded at Luthor.

"We have confirmation that this is one is Green Arrow's pal, Speedy."

"It's Red Arrow now," Roy retorted, only to look behind them and see that both Erica West and Brandon Pax were smirking at him as they leaned against the cars.

"He must be questioned," an officer said.

"We vouch for him," Orion said. Luthor looked like he was about to object, when Pax tossed a glare that instantly shut up all protests.

"Release the sidekick."

"Ex-sidekick," Roy growled rubbing his wrists. "And I don't need any favors from you Luthor."

"Sorry, didn't know you wanted to join the young lady behind bars," the man chucked. "And why go for me? It was Pax that released you?"

"Well, unlike you, he doesn't pretend to be something he's not."

"I don't pretend to be an angel, it just so happens this time I'm on the side of the angels," Luthor smiled.

"Are you done Luthor?" Orion asked from near the door where Erica and Brandon stood next to him.

"Yes," he said smiling at the teens. "I take it this is your son, Brandon?" 'Bee smiled and shook his hand, while refraining from grimacing from both the man in front of him and the growing ache behind his temples. "And you are?"

"Erica West, Brandon's friend," she smiled. "I'm actually doing a report on this for school."

"Well," he said taking her hand. "I'm sure Mr. Pax and I wouldn't mind answering a few of your questions for you."

"Thanks."

"Now that introductions are out of the way, we really should get inside," Orion reminded. "We do have a war to stop."

"Of course," Luthor agreed.

Walking in they saw that the two representaives were arguing.

"Hiring assassins Li? Had you no one among your own troops to do the dirty work?!" Prime Minister Tseng snapped.

"I need no assassins! Such is the method of a Southern coward!" the general replied.

"Tensions are running high and troops are amassing on the border, right now, our arbitrators seem to be the best, and only hope for peace."

"Why should either side trust you Luthor?" Roy spat.

"Because, LexCorp founded on peaceful enterprise for all humanity."

"Cut the act! I've got intel showing LexCorp's been selling weapons to both sides," Red Arrow growled. "You're profiting off this war."

"War income is pocket change to the billions made in peace," Luthor replied. "And isn't peace better? Even if that scoundrel Lex Luthor makes a few bucks off it?"

"Enough, both of you," Orion said. "We came here to solve on conflict, not start another. At this rate, the two countries will go to war and the assassins may even succeed in killing us."

"Which begs the question of who hired them?" Luthor asked.

"And were you really the targets? Your deaths could've been convenient ways to sabotage the summit," Roy realized.

"Allow us to hire you to find out," Luthor said.

 _"_ _Who said we wanted to hire him?"_

 _"_ _What assassin misses their target?" Megatron questioned._ Bumblebee chose to ignore the irritating voice in his head. _"_ _Pretending I'm not real? Hmm, and here I thought you were more mature than that?"_

 _"_ _Go to hell."_

 _"_ _Already there."_

"No thanks," Erica said with a sheepish smile.

"So you'll give us your services, but for free? I can live with that," Luthor chuckled.

"Luthor! In this century please," Orion said standing at the bottom of the steps.

Luthor noticed his partner's impatience and hurried over. Orion Pax was a horrible enemy to make, he had powerful connections with the US government, the UN, the League, CIA, FBI, US military, rumor had it that his wife was a high ranking Interpol officer and that he was formally a high ranking agent himself, he was connected to several other major governments, and was a leader in the development of new weapons and technologies; this was one potential ally he could not afford to lose.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, can we not attempt some smiles for the cameras?"

-.-

Mt. Justice

Superboy knelt on the ground fixing his bike. Sphere rolled up and bumbed his back, trying to get his attention. "Jealous?" The massive metal ball beeped at him and bumped him again. "Alright, alright."

"Ready for school?" M'gann asked flying on the clone petting the giant ball. "I made our lunches!"

"The first day of the scholastic season carries great cultural resonance," Martian Manhunter stated. "We want to wish you both well."

"Guess it's not a Kryptonian thing."

"You may wish to change," Kaldur suggested.

"I spent hours choosing this outfit!" M'gann said morphing her clothes into a pink skirt with a white top and small pink cartigain, along with a pair of flats. "What do you think? Can M'gann M'ortz pass as an Earth girl now?"

"Well…"

"JK! Meet Megan Mortz!" she said changing her skin color to Caucasian. "What's your new name Superboy?!"

"I chose the name John Jones for myself," Manhunter said turning into a dark-skinned man in a suit. "And suggested John Smith for Red Tornado. You could be a John too."

"Pass."

"Connor's always been my favorite name," Megan smiled.

Superboy shrugged, better than nothing. "A last name is also required," Kaldur pointed out.

"How about Kent?" J'ohn suggested.

"Oh! In memory of Dr. Fate, the late Kent Nelson," Megan said.

"Sure."

"Works for me, guess it'll be an honor or something," he shrugged.

"Well Connor Kent, time to change your shirt!" she smiled as he just looked at her. "You don't want to give away your secret identity!"

Connor removed his shirt and turned it inside-out. "This work?"

"Works for me," M'gann sighed.

"Wait, shouldn't I be Connor Nelson?" Superboy questioned as they walked off.

"They grow up so fast," Manhunter sighed.

-.-

Taipei

"Aren't you going to ask me anything?" Cheshire smirked as she worked on some training in her cell.

"You already know what I'm after," Red Arrow growled.

"I do actually, do you?"

"Who hired you?" he said.

"Shadows."

"And who hired them?"

"I don't ask," she said with a wink.

"What's the end game? The Peace Summit or Luthor and Pax themselves?"

"Three birds," she smiled making a gun with her hands towards him, "one stone. Hey, where are your little sidekick friends? They're always fun to play with, especially Ar-chery girl. I like her."

"She—They aren't in my league," he huffed.

"And you think you're in mine?" she asked grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer. "Where's Green Arrow when you need him?"

"I don't."

"Sure about that?" she said wrapping her arms around his neck before letting do and dropping down.

"Oh no," Roy said as the wall exploded and he was tossed back.

"It had to be you!" the assassin snarled, glaring at Sportsmaster.

"Beggers can't be choosers little girl," he stated. "Coming?" He slid down the rope and she hopped on, sliding after.

Roy ran to the roof, looking down he saw the pair racing across the rooftops towards a helicopter. Firing a line, he put his bow over it and slid after.

"I admire persistence, but…" Cheshire said hurling a throwing star at the line. Jumping off he rolled to his feet and gave chase as the line was cut.

"Go!" Sportsmaster ordered once they got into the copter.

Red Arrow managed to attach a line to the helicopter as it flew away, being dragged along with.

"Are you even trying to ditch this guy?!" he snapped at the other assassin.

"I hate to admit it, but he has a point," she said cutting the line.

Roy fell towards the roof, before he could fire an arrow he landed on a green matress. "Having problems?" Emerald asked setting him down.

"I didn't need your help!" he snapped.

"Says the guy falling from a helicopter," she snorted. "But hey, you want to do it by yourself, fine by me. I better get back before Orion notices I'm gone anyways. Just call if you need 'Bee or I." With a salute she flew off in a green flash.

-.-

Because I'm a professional I won't kill you. At least not while we're on the job," Cheshire snarled.

"You wouldn't have this job if it wasn't for me little girl," Sportsmaster sneered. "Grow up already."

"The evening's agenda was to create strife between nations," Ras Al Ghul said stepping out. "Not my assassins."

"Master," Cheshire bowed.

"And client," he said. "So, twice disappointed in your failure. Luthor has been a thorn in my side for too long. And Pax is too much of a threat. Peaceful countries rarely call upon the League of Shadows. So I expect better outcomes, and less interference from that boy!"

"Perfect," Roy grumbled as they all looked at him. Climbing up onto the roof he shot an arrow at Al Ghul, Sportsmaster stepped in the way, using his sword to cut it down. The leader of the Shadows smiled and retreated as the two assassins went after him.

Cheshire leapt onto the roof, ducking, and leaping over arrows as they came her way. Kneeing him in the gut, they began to to hand-to-hand combat. Sportsmaster vaulted onto the roof, tossing a few shrunken as he flipped. Cheshire ducked, giving Roy just barely enough time to use his bow to block them, but unfortunately, the bow broke, leaving him weaponless.

"I hear you go by Red Arrow now," Sportsmaster sneered. "More like Broken Arrow."

-.-

Happy Harbor

A guy skateboarded through the different groups of the high school, when he got close to Superboy he reached out and grabbed him. "What's this?" the clone asked glaring at the shirt he was wearing.

"What's your problem?" a guy larger than Connor growled. "Put my man Marvin down."

"I don't think he likes my shirt," Marvin stated.

Connor looked through the crowd seeing the icons for Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, the Autobots, and a few others. "Your shirt's fine, everyone's shirts are fine," he growled dropping him.

"Someone's fine," the girl next to the larger guy commented.

"Hi, we're new, I'm Megan Mortz and this is Connor Kent," M'gann introduced.

"Cool," Marvin said. "Nice to meet ya."

Connor and the other guy sized each other up, when a teacher snapped his fingers. "Ok, time to head to first period," he said.

The other guy walked past, shoulder checking him. Superboy was about to snap when Megan stood in front of him. _"_ _Connor!_ " she warned.

Superboy muttered something as Marvin and a cheerleader walked up to them. "Hi, I'm Wendy. I was new last year, so I know how hard it is to fit in, but you look like instant Bumblebee material to me," the cheerleader smiled.

"Bumblebee? The Autobot?" M'gann said confused.

"Oh, no," Wendy laughed. "That's our mascot for the school. Though I will admit he is my favorite member of the Autobots. Tryouts are after school for the cheerleading squad."

"Thanks! I'll be there!" Megan smiled walking off with her.

"Dude, facing down Mal Duncan, fierce," Marvin said punching Connor's shoulder, "not that bright, but fierce."

-.-

Taipei

Erica typed away on her report, using some of the answers she got from her brief interview with Luthor before he and Orion had to discuss their course of action.

 _"_ _So, how's it going?"_ Brandon asked from where he sat on the bed as he flipped through the tv channels.

 _"_ _Do humans have anything interesting?" the warlord in his head muttered._

 _"_ _Yes, now shut up, I'm not trying to please you."_

"Better, but I wish I could have the chance to finish that interview with your dad and Luthor," she grumbled.

 _"_ _Don't worry, you can harass Dad on the flight back to Jasper, not like he'll be able to leave the plane,"_ 'Bee commented. _"_ _On top of it we're actually at the scene of the event; you'll get to see it all first hand anyways. And Luthor, face it, we both know he has an ulterior motive."_

"Like making an alliance with your dad for his connections to multiple foreign governments, major crime units, the military, and the fact that he's the head of the new technologies division in the government?" Erica stated.

 _"_ _Exactly."_

"There's also the fact that your IQs are in like the mid two-hundreds," she said.

 _"_ _Once again, from a completely different planet, and we're way, way older than you. And besides, your IQ is right around what ours are."_

"True, buy you guys have a lot more to offer him if he's successful," Erica pointed out.

 _"_ _Do you really think in a million years Dad would make an alliance with Lex Luthor?"_

"No."

 _"_ _My point exactly, I just can't wait to see the look on his face when he realizes it!"_

"You're impossible," she grumbled.

 _"_ _Don't you have a report to work on?"_

"Shut up," she hissed glaring at him. She went quiet, before looking at her friend. "Hey Bee?"

Hearing the tone in her voice, he turned off the tv and looked at her. _"_ _Yea?"_ he questioned, his gaze softening from the normal mask he kept on. Reading her expression, he got up and locked the door before sitting down next to her.

Searching through his mind he for the weight he was fearing wasn't his imagination, thankfully it seemed to be off in the deeper depths of his mind…and now oddly enough he had the opening song of Shingeki no Kyojin playing in his head. However, he pushed the entertaining song aside to handle the serious situation.

 _"_ _What is it?"_

"Y-You remember the-the accident?" she stuttered and he nodded. "Well…Hal found out who caused it…"

Bumblebee's eyes widened before a split second later his expression turned dark. " _Someone caused it?!"_ he spoke darkly, and Erica almost shrunk back from the pure malice she felt radiate off him, but she nodded knowing that his fury wasn't directed at her. _"_ _Who am I killing?"_

"The bridge was built on an old Manhunter temple and it collapsed," she stated. "None on the Manhunters inside reactivated."

Seeing she was about to cry, he pulled her into a hug, letting her softly cry into his shoulder.

-.-

Roy looked between Sportsmaster and Cheshire, who waved at him. The elder assassin hurled his spears at the archer. Roy took a step back, but the blast sent him flying into the water. Sportsmaster tossed his second spear down after. He looked down for a moment to see that he wouldn't surface. Once an acceptable amount of time passed he walked away, leaving Cheshire staring into the water.

Further away, Red Arrow surfaced, gasping for air. Laying on the ground, he tapped his comm, calling Aqualad and Emerald. "It looks like I might be over my head here," he stated.

-.-

"The League of Shadows wants you both dead," Red Arrow said looking at the two men getting ready.

"Doesn't every League?" Luthor snorted.

"Being hunted by assassins is nothing new for me Red Arrow," Orion stated. "It's actually something I'm more familiar with than I should be."

"It's not just Cheshire, it's Sportsmaster and Ras Al Ghul himself."

"Not surprising Ras is a competator of mine," Luthor stated.

"Maybe I should step aside and watch you two take each other out."

"Adorable Red Arrow, but you and I know that this summit relies too much on both of us being alive," Orion stated.

"Though, if the Shadows think he's dead, perhaps we could surprise them?" Luthor suggested looking at his colleague.

"I have a better surprise," Roy said.

"You can explain it to us on the way," Orion said. "Right now I need to let Erica and Brandon know they're staying here."

"You're not bringing them?" Luthor asked. "Ms. West seemed quite eager to witness the event."

"You may have no issue putting children's lives on the line, I, however, do," he stated. "I'll have Ivan film it for her. But I'm not sending my son or his friend anywhere near more assassins. You're not a parent, so I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Luthor hid a wince, he just made a dangerous step towards the man's bad side. He should've figured that despite the fact Brandon Pax was a blackbelt in multiple forms of martial arts and absolutely brillitant, Orion would still keep him away from any potential danger. Not wanting to say anything to crush any chances of a potential business partnership he just nodded.

"WHAT?!"

 _"_ _WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T GO?! THIS IS THE WHOLE REASON WE CAME!"_

"I know, but I'm not sending you two into unnecessary danger," Orion said glaring at both. "Ivan will film it for you."

"Fine," they sighed.

"But I do expect your alter egos to be there," he whispered and they grinned. "Just watch some tv, or play a few old recordings."

-.-

Happy Harbor

"If Orion Pax's and Lex Luthor's unknown stategy for peace fails, the two Rhelasias could be looking at all out war before morning."

The teacher turned off the tv and looked at his class. "So, who can tell me more about Rhelasia?" he asked looking around the class. "Marvin?"

Said student woke up from his doze with a jump. "Well Mr. Karr…at least it's not Fakeasia."

A few chuckles resounded throughout the room as the teacher rolled his eyes. "Anyone else?"

"Modern Rhelasia was created in 1855 and ruled by the Bokun Dynasty before it was divided by the Great Powers into North and South Rhelasia after WW2," Connor answered.

"Very good."

"But why are they fighting? They're all humans—well Rhelasians," he corrected.

"Right on both counts actually."

 _"_ _It's no different on Mars. The White Martian minority are treated like second-class citizens by the Green majority. Of course I'm Green, but that still doesn't make it right,"_ M'gann said.

-.-

Taipei

"Reunification is unthinkable!"

"Our peoples no longer have anything in common!"

"Gentlemen, we aren't saying you must reunify, however, despite your differences, your people still share many things," Orion said.

"Such as the exquisite art of the Rhelasian Tea Ceremony," Luthor suggested as said cart was being pushed through the crowd towards them.

"That is far enough," Kaldur said turning around, holding out a waterbearer, "Cheshire."

Behind the two arbitraitors, Red Arrow knotched an arrow at her. Smirking she pressed a button and shoved the cart towards the table. A green shield came down just as Roy shot his arrow. The arrow just barely made it throught, making the cart explode.

"You really think we'd miss out on all the fun?" Emerald said lowering the shield and landing next to Aqualad.

"It's over Cheshire," Red Arrow said.

"You would think so," she smiled as a helicopter flew up behind her and Sportsmaster along with a dozen other assassins hopped out.

"Aqualad! You get Sportsmaster! Emerald, the other assassins! Cheshire's mine!" Roy snarled.

"So territorial and it's only our third date," she smiled as he fired an arrow. Knocking it out of the air she ducked under Aqualad as he leapt over her, heading for Red Arrow.

Emerald fought knocked another guy out of the way with her baseball bat. One guy leapt up behind her when a rope wrapped around his leg and yanked him up. He grunted as an armored fist hit him in the face and sent him slamming into the ground. Emerald turned at the thud behind her and saw the guy that was unfortunate enough to be jumped by 'Bee. Smirking she picked him up and hurled the unconscious assassin at his buddies rushing towards her.

"You called your little sidekick friends," Cheshire smiled. "But didn't you say they weren't in your league?"

Aqualad was punched in the face by Sportsmaster. Getting up he saw him pulling out his own mace. Resummoning his, they swung at each other.

By the table Orion and Luthor sat with the leaders watching silently as the fight continued. "Sir, we need to leave," Ivan, Orion's bodyguard, said.

"I want to see how this goes," he replied.

-.-

Happy Harbor

"Ok Megan, you're up."

Megan took a breath and began cheering. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. Hornets. Hornets can't be beat! Bzz-ting! Ow!" Finishing she bit her lip as they talked amongst themselves. After a moment, the other two girls went off and Wendy walked over. "How'd I do?"

"I thought you did great," she smiled. "And I'm really sorry about this."

Megan gasped as water was dumped over her head. Up in the stands Connor snarled and got to his feet, taking bits of the seat that got caught in his fist with him. _"_ _Connor no!"_ Trying to stop, he fell off the bleachers.

"Sorry, it's a stupid initiation ritual that I wish my teammates would abandon," Wendy informed tossing a glare at said teammates.

"Wait…initiation ritual?" she questioned. "Hello Megan! That means I made the team! I did make the team right?"

"You're a Bumblebee girl!" another girl said.

"Thank you!" she said hugging them.

"So is that your boyfriend? Cause he's hot, but kinda a freak."

After some chatting they started to leave. "You're carrying my books?" Megan asked.

"You want them to get wet?" Connor asked.

-.-

Taipei

Red Arrow ducked a spinning kick from Cheshire. Leaping back, the assassin tossed several shrunken that were intercepted by several coming down from the roof. Growling in frustration she went back to hand-to-hand combat.

Emerald decided to experiment and made a go kart, she then began driving after the assassins, who started running away or being hit by the vehicle.

Sportsmaster and Aqualad dodged the kart, exchanging maces for swords. "Not bad 'Lad, better than your team did in Santa Prisca or Bialya," Smportsmaster sneered.

"How did you…?"

"I have a source on the inside, very inside," he replied.

 _"_ _Ok, I'm bored again. Aqualad!"_

 _"_ _You would be less bored if you were to go down there and fight," Megatron stated._

 _"_ _And let you run rampage, yea right."_

 _"_ _I hate you."_

 _"_ _Feeling's mutual."_

The sprinkler system suddenly turned on, and Aqualad summoned the water to create a giant eel, which started swallowing the assassins running from Emerald's kart. Cheshire landed next to Sportsmaster, putting on her mask she tossed a bomb into the eel's mouth, making it explode and disappate.

One assassin leapt out of the smoke and Bumblebee jumped down, landing on his back. _"_ _You missed one."_ They all turned to see the rest gone. _"_ _And lost the rest."_

 _"_ _And here I thought you had a natural gift for strategy, you demonstrated that when you proposed assassinating your own father, and in other moments I've seen you show a more twisted side, more so than any other Autobots have demonstrated. Allowing those humans to handle it was foolish," the voice of the warlord hissed._

 _"_ _Yea, they fended off the assassins just fine! I probably wouldn't have even had to help if I didn't want to!"_

 _"_ _And then they let them escape, you were the only one who managed to capture one. By interfering you kept the one that slipped through their defenses from killing their targets."_

 _"_ _Exactly, the one, they performed admirably, keeping them all from getting them. Even if I hadn't jumped in Emerald was already preparing an attack that would've hit him just as he began his descent towards the targets."_

 _"_ _You noticed that through the smoke?"_

 _"_ _Uh…yes?"_

 _Megatron chuckled. "You rely too much on weaklings, humans are such predicatble creatures. Think about it, how many times have your so called teammates held you back? In a mission, against us? You waste too much of your efforts protecting them. No matter how strong they seem they're always going to be weak, fragile beings; they live such short lives, mere blinks compared to us. Doesn't even seem worth the effort to befriend them, why you Autobots insist is something I will never understand. The only thing they're good for is entertainment, otherwise they're worthless. The sooner you recognize that the better."_

"Thank you young heroes," the General said making the young Cybertronian swiftly realize he wasn't alone anymore.

"We owe you our lives," the Prime Minister added as they both bowed to the heroes.

"You ok?" Emerald whispered raising an eyebrow at her friend who was rubbing his temples—something that had been occurring more frequently since the patch.

Bumblebee gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. _"_ _I'm fine,"_ he answered before quietly adding _"…_ _I hope."_

-.-

"…South Rhelasia and North Rhelasia are signing a treaty, which could eventually lead to reunification," a reporter filled in as the two ambassadors signed their copies.

Red Arrow and Aqualad leaned against the wall, Emerald and Bumblebee had already left, something about a recording about to end. "I can't believe we just did a solid for Lex Luthor," Roy grumbled as they left.

"Not for Luthor, for peace," Aqualad reminded. "Besides if the contract was for the summit to be saboutauged, then the treaty renders the contract useless. It is over."

"Is it?" he asked. "I heard what Sportsmaster said. You really think there's a mole in the team?"

"I cannot ignore the possibility," he replied. "But if there is I must investigate quietly."

"Not tell them?"

"If there is I cannot let him or her know I am on to them," he stated. "The unit cannot unravel over baseless suspicions."

"Good luck with that."

"One moment my friend. Tonight, you could've called Green Arrow or the Justice League, instead you called the team."

"The team has my respect," Roy confessed. "I'm still getting used to this whole solo thing, but if you need me, I'll be there."

-.-

"Thanks for answering all my questions," Erica said shaking hands with Lex Luthor.

"It was my pleasure," he smiled. "Though why didn't you question Orion Pax?"

"Please, he's going to be trapped with me for at least eighteen hours on the plane ride back. I'm going to harass him then," she smirked. "Not like he can escape."

 _"_ _Hey Erica?"_ Brandon asked entering. _"_ _You ready? The car's outside to take us to the airport."_

"Yea, thanks again," she said leaving with her friend, closing the door behind her.

"Reporter?" Ras Al Guhl said stepping into the room through another door.

"No, she's a high schooler and is a close friend of the Pax family. She just so happened to be doing a report on the peace summit," Luthor said pouring two drinks. "Good news is, the two Rhelasias are quite literally buying into the peace."

"And another corner of the world, sees the light."

-.-

Central City, September 14

/Erica West, please report to the pricipal's office immediately/ a voice said over the intercom as she was about ready to leave school.

Groaning she trudged her way to the office, the secretary nodded her head and she went in. "I swear whatever it was this time it was Wally's fault!" she immediately said.

"Ms. West, you and your cousin's mishaps are not what we're here to discuss," the principal said practically jumping with excitement. "I'm sure you know Lex Luthor, the founder of LexCorp Industries?"

"Ms. West, good to see you again," he smiled shaking her hand.

"Nice to see you again too Mr. Luthor, but may I ask: why are you here?" she said.

"Your principal sent me a copy of your Taipei report; it was very good. I'd like you to write another essay for me to see if you may qualify for an internship at my company," he said.

Erica wanted to refuse, but since she didn't have a valid excuse there was no way to get out of it. "And what is it about?"

"The Justice League."

 **A/N: Dun, dun, dun! Cliff hanger!**

 **Alright, I feel I could've done better with this chapter, but oh well, what's done is done, and I can't go over it a billion times.**


	23. Leave Me Alone

Chapter 22

 **A/N: I just own this story.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

September 17, Autobot Base

"Fallow the light," Ratchet said shining a light in Optimus' eye. Getting the reaction he wanted, the medic nodded. "I wouldn't advise anything strenuous Optimus, but it appears your systems are fully recovered from the plague, you're all clear to go on missions again."

"Thanks to your medical expertise old friend," Optimus said.

"It was your son who braved unknown territory to locate the cure," Ratchet said and both adults looked at 'Bee who looked up from his history homework. The piles of completed Earth-doctorate-level work sitting next to him.

 _"_ _What? No! I just did what anyone would've done in my position!"_ he said blushing furiously.

"Luckily for us Megatron was still alive," Arcee said walking past.

 _"_ _Did you actually just say that?"_

"Yes."

"What matters is that you are on the mend, while Megatron…"

 _"_ _Arcee shot him as we left."_

"He's right, I did my best to end his story," she sighed. "Just couldn't stick around to see how it ended."

Bumblebee got up as another headache came. Going to one of the more secluded halls in the base he sat down against the wall, holding his hands against his head. _"_ _Seems she failed to get rid of me after all scout, I'm still here aren't I?"_

"Leave me alone," he whispered; his real voice so quiet not even Superman would've been able to hear it.

 _"_ _Now why would I do that? You made a deal with me, and I'm going to see it through one way or another. If you won't willingly fulfill your end of the bargain, then to reclaim my body, I'll take over yours. It is only a matter of time before Optimus realizes not all is quite right with you. So I recommend making up your mind quickly."_

-.-

Mt. Justice

The team watched as Emerald and Bumblebee started one of their infamous sparring matches. Luckily for the bystanders it was one where they couldn't use weapons, so that saved them from accidently behind hit by a stun-round, a giant hammer, another teammate that was not one of the dueling pair (yes they've used teammates as weapons), a hockey puck, or a live octopus.

Emerald tried sweeping his feet out from under him, but 'Bee just flipped over, grabbed her shoulders and tossed her into Wally. "Thanks for the save!" she called as she charged him again. "DIE!" He ducked under her fist, but she jumped into a kick as he ducked. Her kick hit him in the chest, knocking him back. almost instantly he was back on his feet, grabbing her arm as she tried to punch him again. She kicked his shin, only to yelp as she forgot he had a metal bones, and converses were not good protection against that. Flipping her over his shoulder, she landed on her back, only to back-handspring up, kicking him in the face.

At that moment, 'Bee felt ajolt run through his body as Megatron took control, something that had been occurring more and more frequently for the past few days, succeeding in grabbing her legs. Emerald saw the dark smirk cross his face, she was tossed up into the air, and he punched her as she fell, sending her slamming into Wally again.

"Wow cuz," she said sitting up, "you make a great landing pad." She glared at her friend who looked slightly flustered, he'd never hit her that hard before in training. "Not holding back today are we?"

 _"_ _I'm sorry…I don't know what came over me,"_ he stuttered as another headache began to form.

"Bumblebee?" Aqualad questioned seeing a look of pain on his teammate's face as he rubbed his forehead. "Are you alright my friend?"

 _"_ _I just got a migraine,"_ he lied.

"Perhaps you should take a break?" he suggested.

 _"_ _Yea…good idea,"_ 'Bee agreed trying to deal with the fifth headache of the day. Aqualad looked after him as he took a seat, concerned about his friend.

"You ok?" Emerald asked sitting next to him. "Aqualad said you had a migraine. That's the second one today."

He would've responded, if it wasn't for the fact Megatron chose that moment to try talking with him. _"_ _First thing we need to do is to restore my body's functionality…so how did I escape annihilation?" The image of Starscream holding a dark energon shard appeared. "Of course, dark energon…Starscream! The moment I am back to normal I'm going to kill you!"_

 _"_ _Frankly I'm surprised you haven't already,"_ he grumbled back.

 _"_ _Don't think I haven't tried."_

"'Bee?"

 _"_ _Well then maybe you aren't as good at fighting as you thought!"_

 _"_ _Why you little…"_

 _"_ Bumblebee?"

He blinked to see Erica looking at him, before putting a hand on his forehead, frowning when she noticed he was warmer than usual. "You have a slight fever; need anything? Water? Motrin? Ratchet?" she said looking at him. He looked more ragged than normal, he was turning a sickly pale color, his normally vibrant eyes were a little duller, and there were the beginnings of bags under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping well. He could technically stay up for a month and a half due to the length of Cybertronian days, but even then…this wasn't right.

 _"_ _I'm fine."_

 _"_ _Yea right."_

Erica instantly stood up and put her hands on her hips. "No you are not," she declared. "I'll be right back with a water and Motrin. If you move an inch you are dead!"

 _"_ _She reminds me of my sister. She always threatened to kill me too, if it wasn't for for our youngest sister she would've."_

 _"_ _Pity she never succeeded."_

 _"_ _You're sounding more and more like a Decepticon the more we talk."_

 _"_ _SHUT UP!"_

 _"_ _No."_

-.-

Nemesis

"Knock, knock, is anyone in there?" Starscream asked tapping Megatron's forehead. "No? Oh well. Seems I possess the only thing that would allow you to rise up off that slab and walk again, my dearest Megatron…" He pulled out the shard and tossed it up in the air. "…the only scrap left on this planet! Plucked from your very spark chamber! But it cannot restore your mind. The Decepticons need a leader, not a decorative centerpiece! And I will convince them that I am the true heir to your throne, with a plan so epic—!"

"That not even the mighty Megatron could've conceived it," Knockout said, making the SIC jump and turned around.

"He, he, that was the idea Knockout…how long have you been there?"

"Long enough, and it's Commander Knockout to you once and future Lord Starscream."

-.-

September 18, Autobot Base

Bumblebee rushed through the base as he got ready for school. He slept through his alarm for practice, which normally didn't happen, but the tyrant didn't appear to agree with his schedule.

 _"_ _I can't believe you! You're making me late!"_

 _"_ _This is what you get for waking me at such an un-Primusly hour! Who the pit wakes up at this time anyways?!"_

 _"_ _I do! And if I have to put up with you for the rest of my life, I'll make sure to get up at this time every day!"_

 _"_ _Who said I was staying in this body?!"_

 _"_ _I did, because I'm not letting you go back to yours!"_

 _"_ _Who said I was giving you a choice?!"_ 'Bee hissed in pain as his body suddenly disobeyed him, and he cut his hand with the knife he was using to cut up the breakfast sausage. _"_ _You're going to do exactly as I tell you or I will force you to kill your friends! Starting with that Lantern! After all, you can't fight me forever."_

"Bumblebee! Why are you still here?!" Ratchet gaped as he saw the teen just now eating.

 _"_ _Why aren't you at work?!"_ he snapped.

"I have the graveyard shift," Ratchet said taken back by his attitude. "What's gotten into you recently?

'Bee looked down debating on telling him or not, before sighing in defeat. _"_ _I…uh…Ratch, I've been getting these migraines ever since the patch,"_ he confessed, _"_ _and when they happen I see things, images of Megatron mostly."_

Ratchet's eyebrows shot up, and he took the teen's arm. "Come with me."

-.-

Wayne Labs Testing Site

Orion Pax stood next to Ben Hughes (aka Bulkhead) watching the test of a new type of grenade. Wayne Enterprises was hired to develop the new weapon based on Pax's designs. And while he really hated weapon development, it was part of his job description. Hughes was there because his team constructed the test field, and Wayne wanted his report on the event as well.

Something in his pocket vibrated, pulling out his phone he frowned when he saw it was his "father" Richard Pax (Ratchet). "What happened?"

/You need to get back here now, something's wrong with Brandon/

"I'm on my way."

-.-

Base

Optimus walked into the med-bay, he heard Ratchet talking in the other room, signaling he was probably calling work say he couldn't come in. Looking over to one of the berths he saw his son laying down on one of them sound asleep. Going over he sat down on the edge of the bed and ran a hand through the think black and gold hair, he stopped and felt his forehead, noticing a slight fever.

Nuzzling into the cool feeling on his burning forehead, Bumblebee stirred, looking up at him through bleary eyes. _"_ _Dad?"_

Optimus smiled lightly as he felt the slightly dazed question through the bond. _"_ _Shh. It's alright, go back to sleep little one,"_ he said rubbing his head. Giving a small nod, he closed his eyes and drifted off into a restless slumber not long after.

"Sorry about that," Ratchet grumbled walking in. "The hospital needed to find someone to cover my shift."

"So, what's going on?"

"Bumblebee came to me this morning complaining to me of having severe migraines accompanied by intermittent visions," Ratchet explained. "Waking nightmares to be more accurate."

"Didn't you say he was alright after you checked him over?"

"Physically, yes, but it seems the Patch had residual effects on his psyche. I gave him a pretty strong sedative to force him to rest and recover. Judging by the way he looks he hasn't been getting a full-Earth-night's rest since the incident," he stated.

"What kind of visions has he been having?"

"He didn't go into depth other than the fact most seem to involve Megatron. What most likely happened is some of his memories might've gotten transferred back when he left and now his mind is fighting to purge the foreign matter," he sighed.

"I'll call the school, tell them he'll be out for a few days," he sighed grabbing his phone.

"Not like it matters anyways," Ratchet scoffed. "The homework we saw him doing the other day is next semester's, he's already done with first. He's also finished with all the homework for those college courses he's taking. What's he on now? His eighth doctorate?"

"And the fever?"

"His mind is treating the memories the same way the body would a virus, so it appears that his immune system is acting up as well. It might also be the result of the lack of sleep he's gotten," the medic responded. "I've already administered the cure for Cybonic Plague if you're concerned."

Optimus sighed, both relieved and concerned. One because if somehow he did catch the plague it was already being dealt with; two because it made him wonder if he caught something else; and three in the fact that he didn't tell him, he just suffered in silence the past few days. Looking away from Ratchet he noticed a bandage wrapped around his hand. "What happened here?"

"He accidentally cut his hand making his breakfast this morning," Ratchet said. "Though I'm not sure how he pulled it off in that spot. But then again, he's your kid, he probably inherited your uncanny ability to pulling off some of the most bizarre injuries I've ever seen."

"I am not that bad."

"This coming from the man who made the toaster explode?"

"I told you that was one of the kids' pranks."

"I'll believe it when they take credit for it."

-.-

"Where's 'Bee?" Erica asked as they arrived at the base.

"In the med-bay, he wasn't feeling well this morning," Bulkhead said. "Optimus had to leave work early because of it."

"Does he have the plague?!" Wally asked grabbing the front of the taller man's armor.

"No."

"Oh, that's good," the speedster sighed. "So who wants to play some video games?!"

Artemis smacked the back of his head. "One of our teammates is sick and you want to play games with his stuff? So not cool," she said crossing her arms. "I vote we check on him."

"You can, I'm going to play some games," Wally said walking off.

"Geek," both archer and cousin sighed.

Going into the med-bay they saw Ratchet working. "I think I'm going to join KF," Robin said slowly backing away as Superboy joined him. Both had come to fear the man and his horrible bedside manner. Before any of the others could protest they were gone.

"Ratchet, how is Bumblebee doing?" Aqualad asked.

"Unfortunately, not better than this morning, but I'm not really that surprised," he sighed.

"Does it have to do with the migraines he's been having!?" Erica demanded.

"Ever hear of doctor-patient confidentiality?"

"It does doesn't it!"

"Erica, leave the poor man alone," Artemis said.

"I knew there was something up with him!"

"Erica, I may've given him a sedative, but if you keep shouting like that even that won't keep him asleep," Ratchet scolded, giving her a pointed look. As if to prove his point, 'Bee shifted with what sounded like a groan.

"Fine, fine," she sighed, reluctantly starting to leave. "Just let me know if anything changes."

Getting to the rec-room, they saw Superboy, Robin, and Wally all playing Mario Kart in which Erica's cousin was screaming at Robin because his car started going backwards at the finish line, allowing the other two boys to pass.

"So how's 'Bee?" Robin asked as he made the speedster's kart start to drive in a constant circle in the middle of the track.

"Currently passed out on one of the cots in there," Artemis stated flopping down onto the couch.

In the main room Optimus looked at the monitor as it started going off. Ever since Megatron got back, things seemed to be getting busier than usual. Was it too hard to ask that the bad guys take one day off?

/Prime/ Fowler said. /You spot any Decepticons wearing hula skirts lately?/

"No Agent Fowler…why?"

/Because I was hoping you had a lead on the Cons that busted into the Hawaii Naval Observatory. Place looked like it was hit by an army of wrecking balls/

"Why would Cons break into an observatory?" Arcee asked.

/As of last night the space telescope there was missing its primary lens/

"It's difficult to guess Starscream's intent without know where the lens has been taken," Optimus said.

/Good thing it has a tracking device/ Fowler said and the signal appeared on their map.

"The arctic?" Arcee groaned. "Great, another chance to freeze our sparkplugs off."

They zoomed in and Bulkhead whistled. "That's an AN-D7 Class, biggest unmineable energon deposit there it."

"Unmineable, till Starscream melts his way down to it," Prime stated.

"With the help of the lens," Arcee added.

/Melting a glacier that size will allow sea levels to rise and demolish coastal cities/

"Optimus Prime to Justice League, Starscream is attempting to melt through a glacier in the artic that would demolish coastal cites, requesting full League response. Transmitting coordinates."

/Acknowledged/ Batman said. /All available League members rendezvous at Optimus' coordinates. Batman out/

-.-

Arctic

"Let the reign of Lord Starscream begin," he smiled as they got into position.

Knockout raised his hand and the cannon with the lens attached at the end took aim down at the icy landscape below. It took a second to charge before a fiery column shot down towards it.

The Autobots, along with Black Canary, Superman, Batman, Flash, both GLs, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman carefully made their way through the icy environment heading for the roar of flames.

"Lot different than our last polar visit," Arcee commented. "Feels like summer."

They peered around a glacier and frowned at the sight. "Here, that's a bad thing," Hal growled.

"You two, make a shield to block the flames from hitting the ice and a path to divert the flames," Batman told the Lanterns. "Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, try to attack the lens directly. Everyone else protect the Lanterns and try to distract the Cons as Optimus sneaks around back to attack from there."

-.-

Base

Ratchet sighed as he still heard the group of teens playing games in the rec-room. He swore ever since that little team was formed he couldn't get away from them. Shouldn't they have gone home by now?

Going over he checked to see that Bumblebee's fever had gone down. Noticing the positive turn, he glanced back before going into the other room to find parts to repair a machine Bulkhead broke while he was roughhousing with Superboy.

Bumblebee's eyes opened once the doctor had left. Megatron was getting impatient, that man hadn't left him alone long enough to get anything done all day. Getting up, 'Bee quickly slid into his armor, before going to the groundbridge where Megatron typed in the coordinates, opening the bridge.

-.-

Badlands

 _"_ _Where is it?!"_ Megatron growled as he looked around the field. Thinking back on where he'd thrown it, he smiled as he spotted the glowing shard in the ground, and picked it up.

-.-

Base

Ratchet walked back in only to drop his stuff once he saw the berth empty. Racing towards the rec-room he saw the team, but no scout.

"What's wrong?" Superboy asked noticing the medic first.

"Where's Bumblebee?!"

"You lost him!?" Erica exclaimed getting to her feet. They hurried into the main room, where they noticed that the groundbridge had been used.

"These are the coordinates for the site of the battle with Megatron's undead," Ratchet frowned.

"Maybe we should call Optimus?" Aqualad suggested.

"Optimus and the League are busy keeping a polar icecap from melting," the medic huffed, "we need to figure this out on our own." Opening the bridge, they noticed that he was walking back through. "Bumblebee? Where've you been doing?" Grabbing his arm, Ratchet froze at the sight of the dark energon shard in his hand. "Dark Energon?!"

The team backed up as 'Bee punched Ratchet back into a wall. Suberboy was the first to react, leaping at his friend, his arm got caught as he went for a punch; Bumblebee spun around hurling him into Aqualad and Miss Martian. Erica was pulling out her ring, when he raced over and knocked her feet out from under her. Landing on her back, her ring fell out of her grip.

"Bumblebee! C'mon man!" Wally called. "We don't want to hurt you!"

He was answered by his cousin's body slamming into him.

Robin pulled out a disk and hurled it at him. Leaping over it, 'Bee caught it and hurled it back into the wall between Artemis and the Boy Wonder, forcing both to duck as it exploded behind them.

He whipped away, typing something else in the bridge before charging through as it closed behind him.

"Is everyone alright?" Ratchet grunted as he got up.

"Been better," Wally groaned as Erica pulled him up.

"What about 'Bee?" M'gann asked. "Is he ok?"

"I fear the time spent in Megatron's mindscape is causing him to think like a Decepticon."

"Bumblebee isn't a Con!" Emerald snapped putting her ring on, and her Red Lantern uniform appeared.

"Agreed, but we need to figure out what he intends to do with that shard," Aqualad pointed out.

Ratchet's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "The only one who knew of the dark energon there, was Megatron…"

"'Bee has Buckethead's memories?" Artemis asked.

"Worse, Megatron is occupying Bumblebee's mind."

"WHAT?!" the team exclaimed in a mix of shock and horror.

"How could I have been such a fool! The Cortical Psychic Patch acted as a two-way conduit; when Bumblebee returned to his own mind, Megatron fallowed," Ratchet explained as he went to the groundbridge. "And now Bumblebee—Megatron, has bridged to almost the exact same coordinates Optimus used." Activating the bridge he looked back at the group. "Stay here."

"No way!" Emerald growled. "He's our teammate, we're helping!"

The medic sighed. "Of course," he agreed. "Artemis, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, stay here."

"What?! Why?! We can help!"

"One: two of you are practically unarmed. Two: Kaldur's and Wally's powers are not helpful in this situation. Three: Soundwave would attack M'gann the second he sensed her using telepathy in his telepathic range. And four: a smaller group will travel faster," he stated.

"Oh…"

-.-

Artic

"I love it when a plan comes together," Starscream smiled, when suddenly the flames were being diverted by green barriers. "The Justice League."

"Please Lord Starscream, allow your second in command the honor," Knockout said turning to the troops. "Total them!"

A few dozen Vehicons took to the air as they saw Superman, Manhunter, and Wonder Woman approaching, as Breakdown and the others leapt towards the ground.

-.-

"The Deceticon Warship," Ratchet whispered as they arrived. Running down the halls they balked at the sight of numerous soldiers strewn throughout the hall leading for the lab.

"Did 'Bee do this?" Superboy asked.

"I fear Megatron's mind is dominant, and it seems he came here for one purpose: to use the dark energon to resurrect his own body."

"'Bee won't let him! Just like he didn't let him hurt us too badly back at base," Emerald said.

"I hope you're right," the medic sighed as they slipped into the lab.

Peering in they saw Bumblebee attaching the patch to himself, the other end already attached to Megatron's body.

Ratchet charged forwards, as the other two looked at him in shock. "Don't hurt 'Bee!" Emerald called.

"That thing's not Bumblebee!" the medic snapped swinging a punch down at him. The younger ducked, and moved out of the way as he tried again. Bumblebee's fist impacted harshly with the medic's side, sending him flying across the room.

"Bumblebee! Stop!" Emerald called as she and Superboy charged out. "It's me! your best friend! Your teammate! I know you always listen to me! No matter what! Don't let him win!"

He stumbled a bit grabbing his head, before looking at them, confusion clear on his face. _"_ _Guys…what's going on?"_

 _"_ _UNBELIEVEABLE!"_ Megatron roared as Bumblebee cried out as his head exploded in agony.

The two teens rushed over as he collapsed, clearly fighting for control. "'Bee?" Emerald asked.

He looked up at her, but she didn't recognize the dark look in his eyes, the same look he had back at base, back during their sparring match. Megatron was in charge again.

A fist shot out, socking her in the jaw, sending her into the wall, a split second later, Superboy crashed next to her.

"Farewell Megatron," Ratchet snarled as he detached the life-support. Megatron charged him and hurled him over his shoulders right into Emerald and Superboy as they got up.

"Bumblebee!" Emerald called.

 _"_ _I'm afraid he's unavailable at the moment,"_ Megatron growled grabbing the shard and slamming it into the gaping hole in his body's chest.

Emerald caught her friend as he collapsed, pulling out the Patch. _"_ _Ugh, my head…feels like Bulkhead hit me with his wrecking ball,"_ 'Bee grumbled holding his head as she and Superboy pulled him up.

Their attention was turned away as they saw soldiers rush in only to freeze, looking at what they saw, they understood why.

Megatron stood proudly with a wicked grin flickering across his features. "Decepticons! Your rightful Lord and Master has returned," he said looking at the group with a sneer. "Finish these pests, and take the scout to the brig. I have my own extermination to perform."

The soldiers open fired, Emerald made a shield, deflecting the shots from Ratchet and Superboy. Bumblebee motioned towards the vents, which they all quickly slid into.

-.-

Optimus managed to get onto one of the many spikes coming out of the Nemesis, looking down at the battle below, he saw Superman leading the fliers into range of GA's arrows, where he shot them out of the sky, before Superman whipped back and knocked them out of the air if the shot missed. Wonder Woman was lassoing them towards the collective group Martian Manhunter was throwing towards Black Canary, who used her cry to knock them into the ship. On the ground Arcee was busy fighting three Vehicons, using her skills to dodge their attacks and force them to hit each other, before using her blades to take them out. Flash ran around several, before whistling, an explosive flew over and trapped them in solidifying foam. Meanwhile, Bulkhead and Breakdown were duking it out, their weapons collided, and everyone was tossed back by the aftershock that formed a massive crack in the ice.

"Doesn't the League seem…understaffed?" Knockout asked.

Optimus pulled out the bola he borrowed from Batman and tossed it. The red-headed Decepticon was wrapped up and fell to the ground with a surprised cry. Starscream whipped around to see the Prime charging towards them.

"What good is a SIC who fails to watch the rear?!" he growled. Hopping onto the cannon he knocked the soldier off before turning the weapon towards Prime.

Optimus ducked and rolled under the barrage of flame. Hopping onto the side of the runway he raced over and leapt down with his sword. Jamming it into the lens.

Those below were sent flying back by the explosion, shakily getting to their feet they saw Optimus had made a rather large crater in the ice.

Starscream flew over in his jet, before flying straight up, and turning around, arming a missile. "MEGATRON'S GREATEST MISTAKE WAS EVER ALLOWING YOU TO LIVE PRIME!"

Those who could fly all started to fly to intercept him when a larger jet slammed him out of the air and back onto the ship.

"Megatron," Batman said.

"He's back," Black Canary frowned.

Starscream transformed and landed on his back, looking up he saw his worst nightmare land in front of him. "Lord Megatron…you are…you're healed! Praise the All-Spark! It is a miracle!"

"Oh, it will be a miracle all right Starscream," the Tyrant said rolling his eyes, "if you survive what I have planned for you!"

The seeker transformed and tried to fly away, but Megatron grabbed the tail of his jet and hurled hin across the ship. Starscream groaned as he felt in the impact of his master landing next to him.

"But the League, Optimus, right down there, waiting for you," he tried directing his anger at someone else.

"MY GREATEST MISTAKE?!" Megatron reminded. "I've made a few, but there is one I don't intend to make again!"

"No Master!" Starscream begged as he was forced out of his armor and into the massive hand of the Decepticon leader. "NOOOO!"

"Makes me almost pity him," Wonder Woman said as they heard the scream.

"Almost," Arcee chuckled as they watched the flaming warship leave.

"Ratchet, we need a bridge," Optimus commed.

"I'm afraid you'll have to call Aqaulad," Ratchet said as the other group walked over.

-.-

Base

"Everything's back to normal," Ratchet said. "You are free to go make mayhem."

 _"_ _Finally!"_ he cheered rushing out of the room past the doctor and his father. Getting into the rec-room he was tackled into a hug by M'gann.

"I'm so sorry! I should've known he was in there! After all with all the headaches and mood-swings! I should've checked!" she said.

 _"_ _Easy Miss M, no one blames ya. It's not like you were ordered to do a psyche evaluation on me right?"_

"Right…"

Bumblebee put a hand on her shoulder. _"_ _So don't blame yourself. I should've gone to Ratchet sooner."_

"Yea you should've," Erica said punching his arm. "Don't scare us like that again!"

 _"_ _Sorry…"_

"Hey, we all get controlled by an evil psychopath in this line of work sooner or later," Robin smiled. "So no worries!"

 _"_ _Thanks guys."_

 **A/N: I wanna hear reviews!**


	24. No Rescue, No Rematch

Chapter 23

 **A/N: man, I think this is going to be one of my longest stories yet! As always: I own nothing!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

Russia, September 20

An abandoned city in Siberia shook with the impact of Bulkhead crashing into the side of a building.

"Bulkhead," Breakdown grinned putting his hammer away, "what are the odds that we'd meet here in the middle of nowhere tracking a stray energon signal."

"Yeah Breakdown," Bulkhead huffed hopping down, "must be your lucky day!" They grabbed each other's fists pushing against each other with everything they had.

"Where's the sidekicks?" the Con sneered. "How about when I'm done with you I pay those two boys a visit?!" Bulkhead hollered with rage, tackling him to the ground. "So the Wrecker has a soft spot!"

Bulkhead pulled out his wrecking ball, swinging it down, Breakdown rolled out of the way, getting to hsis feet. Pulling out his own hammer, he too a swing, slamming it right into the Wrecker's jaw, sending him flying back onto the ground.

Breakdown aligned his hammer with the semi-conscious man's head. "As much as I'll miss our little reunions, it's hammer time," Breakdown grinned. Raising his hammer, he cried out as something hit him, sending an electrical pulse throughout his systems, knocking him out.

Bulkhead looked up to see several helicopters circling, before he could identify who it was he passed out.

The copters landed, and Silas and his men came out. "Sir, we only have the resourced to transport one," one informed.

Silas contemplated for a moment. "Take the victor."

-.-

"Marco?"

"Marco?"

"Kid Flash?" Bulkhead asked getting up to see the speedster kneeling next to him.

"Wrong, you're supposed to say Polo," Wally frowned. "What happened to you anyways?"

"I'll explain back at base."

-.-

Autobot base

"Engaging the enemy on your own was foolish Bulkhead," Optimus reprimanded as Ratchet patched him up.

"Breakdown jumped me, I knew I could take him—OW! Watch it Doc!"

A loud clang resounded as Ratchet hit him in the head with a wrench. "Stay still and maybe it wouldn't hurt!"

"We should see the other guy right?!" Wally grinned.

"…"

"You didn't torch him?"

"I thought you did," Bulkhead said. "When I came to Breakdown was just gone…though I do remember hearing a copter, maybe it was Fowler or Batman."

"Sorry," Batman shook his head.

"Wasn't me," Fowler stated walking in. "But I have an idea who. Where did this Con-napping occur?"

-.-

Nemesis

"Lord Megatron, I fear Breakdown has gone missing," Starscream said approaching the black-haired man.

"The League?"

"According to survailence by the amazingly accurate Soundwave, Breakdown was abducted by ordinary humans," he informed.

"Your point?"

"My strongest recommendation is that we assemble a rescue team to retrieve him and slaughter the vermin responsible for this atrocity!"

Megatron frowned at the concept of rescuing someone so weak they were caught by humans. "Breakdown is on his own," the tyrant growled.

"Master?"

"If Breakdown allowed himself to be captured by those weaker than him, more primitive than him, he deserves whatever fate awaits him," he stated.

"But Breakdown is a key player in our—" Starscream stopped as the dark red eyes turned to glare at him. "Your wisdom reigns supreme…for now."

-.-

Unknown location

Breakdown groaned as he woke up, looking around he found himself if a dark environment that was not the warship's medbay. "What?!" he gasped as he felt restraints on his arms and legs. The lights turned on and he glared at the men strutting in. "Filthy fleshlings! Who do you think you are?!"

"We are MECH; and I am Silas."

"Release me now and I will let you live!" he threatened.

"I'm afraid you're far too valuable to us," Silas declined.

"Megatron will never pay a ransom!"

"You misunderstand, we don't want a ransom; we want only you," Silas stated, "all of you."

-.-

Base

"This is where we got Bulkhead," Ratchet said pulling up the coordinates.

"A peninsula in eastern Russia, that particular area was abandoned twenty years ago when the volcano erupted. My intel reported MECH activity there earlier today," Fowler stated.

"MECH? You mean the weird techy guys that were after the DNGS thingy?" Erica asked.

"They must've tracked one of you there," Robin pointed out.

"What would they want with Breakdown?" Artemis asked.

"Who cares if they have him," Arcee grumbled.

"He did let himself be dragged off by humans," Bulkhead snickered. "No offense." The team shrugged, they didn't really mind.

"Ratchet, reactivate the previous coordinates," Optimus commanded. "We will rescue Breakdown."

"What?!" Ratchet and Robin gaped.

"You can't be serious?" Artemis said.

 _"_ _Let the Cons rescue their own!"_

"They can melt him down for all I care!" Bulkhead agreed.

"It is unlikely that Megatron would send a rescue team," Prime stated.

"But this is Breakdown we're discussing," Emerald pointed out.

"Sometimes we must rise above ourselves for the greater good," Optimus replied.

"I swear he's like Yoda," Wally grumbled.

"Whats that supposed to mean? That when we rescue him he'll go all soft and join us?" Bulkhead retorted.

"Everyone has the capacity for change."

"You think he and Yoda ever met?" Artemis asked.

"Yes!"

"By greater good, I meant humanity," Optimus said. "MECH is a clear and present danger."

"He's right Bulkhead," Aqualad agreed. "We know they're obsessed with obtaining ground-breaking technology."

"Which means we can't let Cybertronian biology fall in their hands," Emerald sighed.

-.-

Russia

Breakdown continued to struggle against his bonds, trying to break out.

"Full disclosure," Silas said, "we intend to to open you up, break you down if you will. And we will utilize whatever we discover to develop a new generation of weaponry." A man walked up next to him with a tray of supplies. "I'm afraid you won't survive, so thank you in advance for your sacrifice. MECH is very much in your debt."

"You're making a very big mistake little man! When I'm finished with you they'll have to scrape your remains off the floor!"

"Since you obviously aren't squeamish, you can watch," Silas smiled. "Are the pain receptors disabled?" The man nodded. "Good, then he won't make as much noise. Open him up."

The man grabbed a scalpel and started going towards the horrified Cybertronian's face.

-.-

"C'mon! You should go!" Wally said.

"Don't wanna!"

"Bulkhead."

"Optimus I'm sorry, I just can't do it!" he snapped.

"I support your descision," Prime said.

"What?"

"Given your history with Breakdown, your judgement may be clouded, and thus jepordize the mission," he explained. "Besides, he may be in more need to a medic than another warrior."

"Locked and loaded Optimus," Ratchet said.

"Roll out!" Optimus ordered as they vanished through the vortex.

"Happy hunting," Bulkhead huffed. Looking back he saw Wally looking down. "Creature double-feature?"

"Sure."

"I'm in!" Fowler said.

-.-

Bell Revee

 _"_ _Superboy? You online?"_

 _"_ _Yea, but I thought the collars—"_

 _"_ _Custom designed to inhuibit Tupence's superstrength, not my telepathy. Your superstrength on the other hand…"_

 _"_ _Isn't on Superman's level, got it,"_ Conner growled.

 _"_ _That's not what I'm saying."_

 _Just forget it!"_ he snapped going into his cell with Icicle Jr.

"I call top bunk!" Jr exclaimed.

Superboy sighed and laid on his bunk. "Wonder what Bulkhead and the team are doing right now?" he mumbled wishing he was anywhere else but there. Why was he on this assignment again?

-.-

Russia

"No signs of life," Optimus said, "human or Cybertronian."

 _"_ _I think I got something,"_ 'Bee said kneeling next to a few tire tracks that lead off through the abandoned city.

"Forget the tracks Bumblebee," Ratchet said. "I'm picking up an energon signal three-clicks north by north-west."

"But we shouldn't be getting a reading unless…" Arcee trailed off.

"His blood has already been spilled," Ratchet sighed.

They rushed after the signal, but 'Bee stopped for a moment looking back at the tracks. Shaking off the pit forming in his gut he raced off after the group.

-.-

Base

Fowler was snoring on the couch, having fallen asleep sometime into the movie. Emerald and Robin took off a bit ago to try to break into the Autobot's bedrooms, which were typically locked; leaving Wally, Artemis and Bulkhead sitting watching the movie.

"Dino-lizard vs Five-headed-ape, you're missing the smack-down," Bulkhead said looking at Wally, who was glumly looking down, not even touching the popcorn sitting in his lap.

"No, you're missing the smack-down!" he snapped. "Breakdown is your nemesis, not Prime's! And definitely not MECH's!"

"KF, you don't get it…Breakdown and I…we go way back, you don't know what that traitor's done! I am not resucing him, not now, not ever!"

"Duh, I'm not askin you to bromance him," Wally huffed. "You just have to beat him!"

"You lost me," Artemis said.

"Same," Bulkhead nodded.

"No rescue, no rematch."

-.-

"You think Fowler will be awake when we need the bridge?" Artemis asked as they hopped out.

"Oh, he will," Robin said as he and Erica high-fived.

"Tire tracks!" Wally pointed out.

Bulkhead opened the door to his car, letting the Boy Wonder and archer hop in. "Let's roll!"

-.-

"That way," Ratchet pointed.

Nodding, Arcee and Bumblebee ran forwards, peering around corners and ducking behind walls as they went. Getting to a plaza, they stopped to see an eye sitting on an old fountain.

"Found the source of our reading," Arcee grumbled as Prime and Ratchet joined them.

"Breakdown's eye," Ratchet grumbled looking it over.

 _"_ _Ouch."_

The medic picked it up and attacked its systems to the scanner.

"What are you doing?" Arcee questioned.

"The optic receptors might've retained the final images seen," Ratchet stated as a man came on the screen and moved a drill towards his eye.

"Weird science wins again," she sighed.

The feed was interrupted and Silas appeared on screen. "Well, well, Optimus Prime, a pleasure to set eyes on you again," he said.

"He's converted the optics to a two-way feed."

"You must be Silas," Optimus said.

"In the flesh, but since our captive is not one of yours, I have to admit, I was expecting Megatron."

"In this circumstance, Autobots and Decepticons share a common foe," Prime replied.

"MECH is anything but common," Silas said motioning to where they had men working on Breakdown behind him. "Our guest is yeilding quite a bit of information about your biology as you can see. Though, Breakdown himself can't see that well anymore."

"We don't fear you," Ratchet growled.

"But you should, in fact I strongly suggest that you not stand your ground."

 _"_ _It's a trap!"_ 'Bee said spotting the bomb.

"Evacuate now!" Optimus ordered and they transformed back, barely escaping the explosion.

"Any clue where they're keeping the rest of Breakdown?" Arcee sighed.

 _"_ _I don't know…maybe where those tracks lead to."_

"Shut up."

-.-

"Got them, inside that tunnel," Robin said hopping back down from where he was doing surveilence.

"Stealth or brute force?" Emerald asked.

"Since when am I stealthy?" Bulkhead asked pulling out his wrecking ball.

"Touche!" she exclaimed flying in.

CHASH! BANG! "AHHH!" SLAM! CRASH! "MOMMY!"

"PERISH UNDER MY MIGHTY HAMMER!" Erica shouted.

"That's one way to make an entrance," Artemis said.

"That's my cousin!" Kid grinned before racing in and snatching the guns from the guys just as Artemis' arrows hit them, trapping them in foam.

Bulkhead raced past slamming his wrecking balls into the doors. "MARCO!" The men began firing, crying out as he slammed it down next to them. "You're supposed to say Polo!"

Silas sighed and snapped his fingers, he and his men disappearing.

Bulkhead and the kids raced aroun the corner, spotting Breakdown, Bulkhead stronde over and loomed over the terrified man. "Must be your lucky day," the Wrecker said ripping the restraints off.

"W-What are you doing?" he questioned looking at all of them.

"Getting you out, duh," Kid Flash replied.

"I don't believe it either," Bulkhead shrugged when the Con just stared at them.

"Can you walk?" Robin asked.

"Yes."

"Can you maneuver your armor?" Emerald asked pointing at the truck.

"I think so," Breakdown said, stumbling over, he got in and transformed.

"Good, let's go!" Emerald said charging forwards with shield in place.

MECh soldiers fired at her as she turned around the corner, widening her shield, she let the two Cybertronains pass through, taking them out before they continued forwards again.

"Creature Double-Feature coming at ya!" Bulkhead quipped.

Getting outside Emerald had to make a large shield as numerous guns, copters, and even a few grenade launchers shot at them. "We didn't exactly plan this out, did we?"

"Nope," Robin sighed.

"Anyone have some sort of escape plan?" Breakdown asked.

"Yea, but you won't like it," Bulkhead said going to his comm. "Bulkhead to Optimus, we need back-up!"

Breakdeown reached through the sheid grabbed a truck and hurled it into one of the helicopters.

"Nice toss," Emerald commented.

Bulkhead went out and started smashing up the cars along with the Con, but being careful not to kill any of the humans.

"They're leaving!" Wally pointed as they started driving/flying away.

"Your back up?" Breakdown asked.

A split-second later, Starscream landed with several Vehicons.

"Scrap," Wally sighed.

"Commander!" Breakdown straightened.

"Consorting with the enemy?"

"They got me out of there," Breakdown informed.

"Many spark-felt thanks, now kill them," Starscream ordered.

"But…"

"Do you plan on joining the Justice League anytime soon?" Starscream hissed. "No?! Then get rid of them!"

"Tough break guys, maybe in the afterlife," Breakdown said swinging his hammer down at them.

"Not today!" Emerald said making a clamp to grab his arm.

Bulkhead swung behind him and slammed his wrecking ball into his back, knoking the Con forwards. "Destroy them!" Starscream commanded before his face was thouroughly greeted with a wrecking ball, sendin him flying into a building.

"FIFTY POINTS!" Wally cheered. The vehicons aimed their weapons at them. "Scrap!"

"HAMMER TIME!" Bulkhead shouted, picking up Breakdown's prone from and hurling it into them.

"Forty points!"

The two groups prepared to fighed when gunfire cmae from behind the Cons, turning they saw the other half of the Autobots heading for them. "Retreat!" Starscream ordered.

"Engaging the enemy was even more foolish this time Bulkhead," Optimus sighed.

"At least he wasn't alone!" Emerald pointed out.

"But, I am honored you saw fit to rescue your rival, you've truly risen above yourself."

"Did you see it! I totally won the rematch!" Bulkhead cheered.

"Bulk! We totally need to find an awesome souvenier of the occasion!" Wally said. "How bout this? Or this? Or this? Maybe this? What about this one?"

"They're gonna be at the for a while aren't they?" Emerald asked.

 _"_ _Most likely."_


	25. Monkey Business

Chapter 24

 **A/N: I own nothing.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Thoughts/telepathy_**

 ** _Bumblebee's speech_**

India Sepember 10

"Indian Tiger print boys," a hunter smirked, "see, I told you we didn't need some superstitious guide to lead us to big game. Devil beasts, ha!" They trecked through the jungle fallowing the footprints. Getting to a ridge they spotted the tiger hopping out of a tree in a clearing below them. As it landed, three pillars came out of the ground and electrified, causing the creature to fall to the ground as if some unknown force was shoving it down.

"What is that?"

"Who cares, I just made my quota," the leader smiled aiming the weapon.

A growl sounded behind them and they turned to see a large gorilla step out of the forest, a machine gun in hand, aimed right at them. The ape seemed to glower before open firing.

 ** _-.-_**

September 22

Erica and Brandon walked into one of their favorite cafés in Central City. "So how do you think Artemis fared on her first day at Gotham Academy?" Erica asked.

 _"_ _Not sure, I'm sure it'll be difficult for her since she's from a lower-income family rather than the rich, high-class kids that are there for advanced education and need protection, she's in a whole different ball-game now,"_ he shrugged.

"Only you could make it sound like that," she frowned.

"Hey Erica, Brandon, you guys want the usuals?" the baresta asked.

"You know it," she smiled.

"What name this time?"

"I am Darth Vader!" Erica declared dramatically. "He's Darth Sidious."

 _"_ _That's Emperor to you Vader,"_ 'Bee smirked.

"Of course," she said with a mock bow as they went to their favorite booth. "So, what do you think of the team?"

 _"_ _They're alright, a little new, but they're getting the hang of it. Conner is a little too hot-headed still, Megan seems a little to eager to please, and Wally is—and probably always will be—too impulsive for his own good,"_ Brandon shrugged.

"I could've told you that," Erica snickered. "But I have to agree. And Artemis?"

 _"_ _Tolerable. She understands complex battle strategy and situations, she also understands the need to kill when it is necessary. However, she seems to lack trust in others, which is needed to have a fully functional team. You?"_

"She seems good to me, but she's a little tempermental," Erica shrugged.

The song changed and both grinned as the theme song for Darth Vader came on. "Darth Vader, Emperor Sidious, your drinks are ready."

Grabbing their hot-chocolates they laughed as they sat down. _"I vote next time we do Lord Voldemort and Belletrix,"_ 'Bee grinned.

"I'm so up for it," she smiled fist-bumping him. "So what movie should we see this time? Because I really want to see that new action movie!"

 _"_ _I'm up for it, I just get to pick next time."_

"Deal!"

 _"_ _So, anything exciting going on lately?"_

"Not really," Erica shrugged. "Though Luthor came to my school last week."

Brandon's head snapped up from where he was checking something on his phone. _"What?! Why was he there?!"_

"He was looking me up for an intership, he wants me to write an essay to see if I'm qualified," she replied.

 _"_ _Well…this could be an advantage."_

"You've lost me," she said staring at him.

'Bee rolled his eyes, an evil smirk playing across his lips. _"I just mean it would provide the opportunity for you to infiltrate LexCorp and find out what he's up to, not to mention you could saboutage the major 'evil' projects. Considering your IQ there's a point-three-one-five percent chance that you would not be working on one of those projects,"_ he calculated.

"Shut up," Erica muttered.

 _"_ _So what's the essay about?"_ he asked pulling an energon treat he smuggled from base out.

"The Justice League."

'Bee coughed slightly as the statement caught him by surprise. _"You're joking."_

"Unfortunately not," she huffed, "and I can't say too much, otherwise he'll realize I know detailed information I shouldn't know, but I can't say too little because he's already read my Taipei essay so having a sucky essay would also raise his suspiscions."

 _"_ _Well Dad works closely with the League in his civilian job, he's even dragged me to a few 'formal meetings' with them."_

"Does that mean I can use you as a reference?!" she said grabbing the front of his black leather jacket.

 _"_ _Duh."_

"Thank you!" she squealed squeezing him.

 _"_ _Erica…need air…and hot-coco,"_ he ground out trying to reach for the mug just out of his reach as his arms were pinned to his side by the excited girl.

"Sorry! Though I need to find other references too, but I can just use various news articles, can you set up a meeting with Aria for me?" Erica asked referring to Arcee's human name. Aria Pax was the younger sister of Orion Pax and was a well-known reporter for the news, getting her as a reference with her Aunt Iris would ensure Luthor didn't suspect her of knowing too much; those two, along with Lois Lane, had the most live interviews with superheroes.

 _"_ _No problem, she owes me a favor or two anyways,"_ he said with a thumbs-up. Pullung out his phone, he checked movie times. _"Alright, so we can either leave now and see the one at 5:30 or wait for the 6:10 one."_

"I vote we wait for the 6:10 movie," she said. "This way we can finish our drinks."

 _"_ _Sounds good to me,"_ he nodded taking a drink of the cooling hot chocolate.

-.-

Emerald and Bumblebee stood in the Central City Zeta Tube looking at it in confusion. "Hello? Emerald Lantern—B02. Bumblebee—B06. Mt. Justice."

"Zeta Tubes to Mt. Justice offline."

 _"_ _Weird,"_ 'Bee said. _"According to my scans there's no reason on why the Tubes would be offline. Ratchet send us a bridge."_ The blue, swirling vortex appered and they went through, before adjusting the coordinates for the cave.

"Thanks Doc," Emerald said.

"Just a sec, I'm coming with," Ratchet said holding his medical gear and grabbing the remote control for the bridge.

"Whoa…what happened?!" Emerald gasped upon seeing the forms of their teammates lying on the ground as they started regaining consciousness. However, Robin was coherent enough to explain what happened to Batman.

Ratchet rushed over to check on M'gann and Kaldur since according to Batman's report they had been suffering from severe dehydration.

"Stand back," Emerald said flying over to where Captain Atom and Flash were trying to cut through the substance containing her cousin and Superboy.

"My head," Wally groaned, Superboy grunted in agreement.

"Both of you need to stay still," Emerald warned before she started to use a lazer from her ring to carefully start cutting through the material.

"Bumblebee! Here now!" Ratchet called. Hurring over he started to help the medic with treating the dehydrated teens with what little training he had received over the past few millennia.

"Artemis…Artemis can you hear me?" Superman asked. "She's alright." He helped her up. "What happened here.

"What happened?! The Reds happened! Wait—where are they?!" she gasped.

"Gone…all three of them…gone," Robin stated.

-.-

September 23

The team sat quietly at a table as the Leauge worked around them, fixing up the cave after the attack. Emerald and 'Bee were told of what happened and felt guilty that they failed to arrive earlier to help their teammates as they struggled to survive in a place they all considered safe.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Wally growled as Green Arrow set down a bowl of pretzels.

"Yea, what we want are answers about Red Tornado and his siblings," Robin agreed.

"Exactly!" Wally exclaimed and GA started to take the bowl. "Leave the pretzels."

"YOU KNEW?!" Superboy shouted, lunging and grabbing Aqualad from where he was giving a report to Batman and Optimus. "THAT ANDROID AND HIS MANIAC FAMILY ALMOST KILLED M'GANN!"

"Conner what are you doing?!" Megan gasped as they rushed over.

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor amongst us and said nothing!"

"You knew?!"

"And didn't tell us?!"

"I just sought to protect the team," he replied.

"Protect us from what? Knowledge that might've saved our lives?!" Artemis growled.

"Enough," Batman said.

"With Red Tornado missing, the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors, Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift," Optimus stated.

"I'm really looking forwards to hanging with you guys."

"After I dismantle Red Tornado—"

 _"_ _Superboy. Shut Up,"_ Bumblebee said narrowing his eyes. The clone froze and the others took a step back as they felt the anger rolling off their normally calm-in-any-freakin-situation teammate, continuing to push his buttons when he was like this…not wise.

"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, and is a League responsibility, you _will_ leave him to us," Batman stated. "We have another assignment for this team."

Optimus pulled up a few news articles on the holoscreen. "Gotham Mayor gets attacked by Gorillia Gorilla," Kid Flash scoffed.

 _"_ _Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?"_ Conner growled.

 _"_ _Superboy, things aren't as black and white as you all are seeing them right now,"_ Emerald said.

 _"_ _Can it Em! Where were you when the Reds attacked, huh? Not here, no, you were out seeing a movie, or going to the café, or playing video games; you weren't here,"_ Wally growled.

"Batman, please tell us you're not sending us on a wild ape chase," Robin sneered.

"We _never_ joke about a mission," Optimus said coldly, making the Boy Wonder flinch.

"I've checked the sources and studied the patterns, Mayor Hill's attack is only the latest in a series of related incidents," Batman stated. "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

"Your team?" Kid scoffed shoulder-checking Aqualad as they passed.

As they approached the Bioship, they saw Captain Marvel flying over. "You're coming with?" Robin groaned.

"Sure, we'll have a blast," he smiled walking in.

"Translation, he blames us for Red Fiasco, he doesn't trust us," Robin snorted.

"It's a big club," KF sneered glaring at Aqualad.

-.-

India

The Bioship flew over the jungle, opening the bottom to let Bumblebee, Robin, and Artemis down to scout the area. The ship landed and the others came out as Artemis and Robin returned.

 _"_ _We're clear,"_ 'Bee said stepping out of the shadows making Artemis jump. _"Orders?"_

"Switch to stealth, and we'll review mission perameters," Aqualad stated.

"Perameters? We don't need no stinkin' perameters," Wally growled as they went to stealth mode.

"It's recon, we know what to do," Robin retorted as the pair started to walk away.

"Kid, Robin."

"The six of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us!" Robin snapped. "Oh, wait, I forgot, 'Bee and Emerald already knew about all of it and they didn't bother to tell us."

"Kinda like how Aqualad forgot to tell us about the mole," KF added as they ran off.

"C'mon! I'll keep you safe!" Superboy said grabbing Miss Martian's arm.

 _"_ _You're my boyfriend Conner, not my keeper, stop handling me like a character from a seventies' sitcom."_

"I…just want to protect you," he stuttered.

"Like how Aqualad protected us from the Reds, I'm not sure your protection is beneficial to our health," Artemis snarled as they two girls walked away.

"Why didn't you stop them?! You're supposed to be in charge?!" Superboy snapped glaring at Kaldur.

"I am—"

The clone leapt away without even waiting for his answer.

 _"_ _That hypocrite,"_ 'Bee growled glaring after him.

"What do you want us to do?" Emerald asked looking at Aqualad.

"See if you can find anything, contact us when you do," he said relieved that at least the two team powerhouses were on his side. Nodding the Black Lantern and the scout vanished in different directions.

"Um…did I miss the part where you actually said the plan?" Captain asked. Kaldur just sighed as they went their own way.

-.-

Artemis and Miss M travelled alongside a creek, both failing to notice the large shadows fallowing in the water.

-.-

Robin and Kid Flash pushed through the thick jungle foliage, neither bothering to look up to see three large forms flying above them.

-.-

Bumblebee landed silently in the middle of a large trench formed by something big, big enough to topple trees. Kneeling down, he picked up a shiny black scale, a scale several sizes too large for the species it belinged to.

-.-

Superboy leapt through the woods, so caught up in his rage, he didn't hear the sound of several forms chasing after over the sounds of his landings and the blood roaring in his ears.

-.-

Emerald flew quietly through the jungle, careful not to disturb anything, but she couldn't see the red eyes watching from the bushes nearby.

-.-

"Guess this is where Mayor Hill's monkey business went down," Captain Marvel said as they arrived in a clearing with marks of a fight everywhere. "So at least we've confirmed the story, right? Aqualad?"

"My apologies Captain Marvel, I am…plagued by doubts…perhaps I was wrong to withhold," he confessed.

Both stopped talking as thunderous steps headed towards them, shaking the very earth they stood on. The trees on the side of the clearing fell as two, supersized Indian Elephants charged out of the jungle. Captain flew up and shoved the bigger one back, but it only moved a foot before the elephant's trunk grabbed his leg and hurled him through a tree.

Aqualad was left standing between both enraged pacederms, one charged, forcing him to jump out of the way or be crushed by its massive foot.

Marvel got up to see a tiger growling at him, but it was forced to retreat as Aqualad landed between them with a pained grunt.

-.-

A giant cobra burst of of the forest, nearly snatching 'Bee's head up in its oversized jaws. Sliding under the massive snake, he leapt up and punched it, sending its head slamming into the ground. Sitting on it, he held the head down, it was just under the size of a python but it was skinnier, and had an inhibitor collar on. He ripped it off, but still left the snake pinned.

 _"_ _You're too small to have ripped through the jungle that way,"_ he mused just as a python with a body the width of a bus rose and loomed over him, its head was easily the size of a car. _"I just had to say something."_

The cobra hissed in his hand and 'Bee felt that if he could understand it it would've been a very sarcastic reply. The python gave a roaring hiss as it spotted them, 'Bee shook his head, grabbed the cobra's tail and started running through the jungle with a screaming snake.

-.-

Superboy was slammed to the ground by a brown wolf, ripping it off two more jumped on him, tearing at his clothes, leaving deep scratch marks in his skin. Up on the ledge above him, a large white wolf with golden eyes sat, staring at him.

Taking out most of the brown wolves, the white one jumped down and attacked the clone.

-.-

Robin and KF ran through the jungle with undignified cries as three vultures chased them down.

"I though vultures only ate dead meat?!" Robin called as he tossed a couple explosives at them.

"Then these are very proactive scavengers!" Wally replied.

"Proactive and supersized! You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Kobra Venom? Yea," the speedster said as they dodged the attacking birds.

-.-

Emerald grunted as a heavy weight slammed into her, making a construct she shoved it off and got into a fighting stance.

The albino panther growled back, its tail waving widly back and forth. With an angry roar, it lunged at her again.

-.-

A massive crocodile leapt out of the water, trying to snatch Miss M up in its jaws.

Artemis immediately stood up and pulled out her bow, but a second one shot out and grabbed her by her quiver, dragging her under and starting to barrel-roll.

Getting rid of hers, M'gann flew down and helped Artemis detatch from her quiver. The croc prepared to lunge again, but was shot back by the Martian's telekinetic abilities as she made the waters recede around her friend so she could breath.

"Almost drowning two nights in a row, way less fun than it sounds," the blonde coughed after finishing hacking up water.

-.-

Aqualad looked up to see Marvel slammed back by the smaller elephant, looking closer his eyes widened as he saw the inhibitor collar locked around its neck. Grabbing his water bearers he ducked under the trunk, rolled under the foor, leapt up and used the whips to slice the collar off. The freed animal looked at him before it began lumbering off.

"Remove the collars!" he called.

"Got it!" Captain Marvel replied. Flying under the elephant he punched the collar off, landing next to Kaldur as they watched the animals leave. "Smart, figuring out that the collars were the problem."

"But the collars indicate there is an intelligence behind this attack, the rest of the team may alos be in danger," he replied. "Comm's jammed, and Miss Martian failed to establish a link before we split up."

"Actually, you failed to establish a link before everyone split up."

"They wouldn't listen!"

"Maybe," the Leaguer shrugged, "but back at the cave, Batman was able to get everyone to stop fighting with one word."

"Because Batman is…Batman."

"Don't have to tell me, when I first joined the League all he did was boss me around, and it's hard not to take it personally, but, I never disobeyed and order, and that's probably what kept me alive."

"Batmans takes command, for the good of the League, thank you for helping me understand," Aqualad nodded.

"Hey, wisdom of Solomon," he shrugged.

 _"_ _Aqualad, can you hear me?"_

 _"_ _Yes Miss Martian, report?"_ he asked.

 _"_ _Artemis and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars, like those used at Belle Reve penitentiary."_

"Cool! Tiger! I'll be back!" Captain called before flying off.

"Hey, speed of Mercury," Aqualad sighed.

"Hey there, bet you'd like good ol Captain Marvel to remove that nasty collar," he cooed at the big cat. Landing in front of it, it roared and backed up as the collar shocked it again. The Leaguer approached it, wanting to help, but three pillars emerged from the ground, creating an energy field that made him unable to stand.

A gorilla wearing a red beret came down from the tree and started banging its chest.

-.-

 _"_ _Miss Martain, I need a telepathic link-up with the entire team, now."_

 _"_ _Link established."_

 _"_ _Should he still be giving us orders? And should you really be fallowing them?"_ Artemis growled instantly.

 _"_ _Listen, please!"_

 _"_ _Oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head, I've so missed that,"_ Wally said.

 _"_ _Yo Kaldur, KF and I were attacked by giant vultures, course since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves."_

 _"_ _If he did, he wouldn't tell you,"_ Artemis said.

 _"_ _Superboy, are you online or just pouting?"_

 _"_ _Busy, call back later."_

 _"_ _Emerald?"_

 _"_ _Just a sec!"_ the Lantern replied as she tried to get the collar off the panther.

 _"'_ _Bee?"_

 _"_ _Kul'vak!"_ he cursed as he held the giant snake's mouth open as it tried eating him. The cobra was wrapped around his torso trying to bite the massive snake before it gave up and started shrieking and flailing its head in terror.

 _"_ _What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us."_

 _"_ _He should be chalant, way chalant."_

 _"_ _SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! YOU'RE ALL SOUNDING LIKE WHINING CHILDREN AND IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE! DID IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU THAT HE COULDN'T TELL WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF TIPPING OFF WHOEVER THE MOLE WAS?!"_ Emerald shouted as her temper finally got the better of her.

 _"_ _She's right, I've had to go undercover loads of times with the Cons, do you know how many times I was tiped off about being the mole? And let me tell you, those who had suspicions of a mole never saw dawn again, I made sure of that. Same thing couldn've happened if he tipped off the mole in our team,"_ Bumblebee stated before releasing a string of very explicit curses in various Earth and alien languages.

 _"_ _BUMBLEBEE!"_ Erica scolded.

 _"_ _Call back later!"_

 _"_ _Thank you,"_ Aqualad said as he found the pillars. _"We can continue this discussion later, but right now we have a larger problem: Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him."_

 _"_ _Under your leadership—!"_

 _"_ _This is not up for debate! You all chose me to lead, when the mission is over I will step down if you wish, but until then I'm in command!"_

-.-

Captain Marvel woke up to find himself strapped down to a table with an inhibitor collar around his neck.

"The brain enhancement of this Tigre already pays dividens no, for he as brought us a prize most glorious. Le Capitain Marvel."

"Why can't I move?!"

"It is obvious Mi-no. your collar is set to inhibit movement from the neck down, I have allowed you to retain the power of speech, as your reactions may prove instructive during La Procedure."

"La Procedure? What procedure?" he questioned.

"I have often wondered the affects of your powers on the cerebral cortex, I long to see the Wisdom of Solomon up close. Mousier Malliah, prepare for surgery."

A gorilla in scrubs grunted.

-.-

 _"_ _I'll fly over,"_ M'gann said as they got into position.

 _"_ _Negatory, field surrounds the building like a dome over the whole compound_ ," KF informed.

 _"_ _Pylons are insulated, a good shock could cause a momentary gap,"_ Robin informed. _"Too bad we don't have our resident Cybertronian, he could just snap his fingers and it'd be down."_

 _"_ _I don't think it'd be that simple for him Rob,"_ Emerald commented from where she sat petting the sabertoothed albino panther.

 _"_ _I see a target,"_ Artemis stated.

 _"_ _Be ready to hit it, be ready, all of you."_ Aqualad ran down and his tatoos started glowing, making contact with the field he forced a small hole open, just wide enough for Artemis to shoot an arrow through to hit the main control. The shield deactivated and they raced down.

"Emerald…is that…?"

"Yep," she smiled.

"Guys, we have a different problem," Robin said as he pointed out the inhibitor collar-wearing baboon. The monkey screeched as the alarms went off and a hoarde of monkeys raced at them.

-.-

"Go Malliah, deal with sie intruders, I will handle the Captian's brain extraction myself."

-.-

Aqualad tossed a baboon over his shoulder onto the ground, ripping off the collar. "Get rid of the collars!"

"Sounds easy when he says it," Robin grumbled when the panther landed next to him and swiped the monkeys away and Emerald ripped off the collars with a construct. "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it!"

Artemis was firing at the incoming ones, Robin tossed two disks at the two coming up behind her, making them run away as the collars fell off.

The gorilla gorilla came out and snatched M'gann as she tried to sneak past him, he slammed her into thr ground and was about to shoot. "Get your paws off her!" Wally called slamming into the gorllia, only to be the one bounced back.

Malliah was about to shoot when a terrifying screech came out of the jungle, pausing in their fighting, they all started as Bumblebee sprinted through them, a screaming cobra wrapped around him, and the world's biggest snake chasing after.

Emerald flew over and slammed Malliah into a wall with her giant hammer, and the fighting resumed.

-.-

"You're not taking my brain!"

"Don't worry el Capitain, do not struggle. Brain extraction is virually painless, the benefits of ignorance. Look what it has done for me," The Brain said rolling out into the surgical light.

Captain sighed as a lazer lowered down and settled over his head. "That won't work on me."

"Perhaps, but it works on solid steel, so I'll try my luck. I'm told you have the courage of Achilles, perhaps you should've asked for his invulnerability instead."

The tiger roared and punced on The Brain, shoving him back.

"Traitor! You will suffer for that!"

The big cat roared in pain as the collar began shocking it. "Stop it! Leave it alone!"

Malliah came through the wall and Miss Martain could bee seen floating there as the rest raced in.

"It's the Brain!" KF exclaimed.

"I can see it's a brain," Artmis scoffed.

"Not a brain, _the_ Brain!" Emerald emphasized.

"In the flesh, so to speak. Malliah."

The gorilla pressed a button and the prons came out, slamming them all to the ground.

 _"_ _Miss Martian, Superboy, now!"_

Using her telekinesis, Miss M pulled the remote over and deactivated the gravity field as Superboy slammed his way in with the white wolf. The panther and wold attacked the gorilla simultaneously, backing off as Kid raced up and kicked him in the gut. The gorilla tried shooting them, but Robin swung over and kicked him in the face. Miss M, lifted him and slammed Malliah into the ground. Making a giant baseball club Emerald hit the ape with it and Superboy punched the flying ape into the ground. An arrow landed in his machine gun, making it explode. Aqualad dodged the Brain's lazer attacks before rushing over to help Captian Marvel. Ripping the collar off the Captain eagerly got up.

"Thanks," he said hopping down, removing the collar. "Now to return one favor for another." Removing the tiger's collar.

Malliah roared as the team surrounded them. "Try it, I hate monkeys," Superboy growled.

"Believe me he does!" Emerald warned.

"No Malliah, this will not be our Waterloo," the Brain said as a bunch of devices on him activated. "Au revoir."

"GET DOWN!"

The team ducked, but everything just went dark before the lights turned on a moment later, the gorilla and Brain gone.

"Wait…that big weapon was…a light switch?" Emerald questioned.

-.-

Off in the jungle, 'Bee grinned behind his mask as he leapt off the tied-up python. _"Primus, that took forever!"_

The black cobra looked at him and hissed with a look that resembled a glare.

 _"_ _Oh, like you could've done any better?!"_

-.-

"What are you grinning about?" Artemis asked.

"One word: souvnier," Wally grinned.

"Two words: gorilla lice," Artemis and Emerald said highfiving.

"Ah man!"

Aqualad ripped off another collar and the monkey ran off into the jungle. "That the last of the collars?" Captain asked the tiger.

The tiger growled.

"And can I trust you to keep the other animals in line?"

The tiger growled again.

"Good," he said petting it. "I'll be back for a visit." The big cat ran off into the night. "I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny."

"Rest of the pack is gone, why are you still here?" Superboy asked the wolf he was petting.

"Same with you?" Emerald asked petting the giant panther.

"Looks like they want to stay with you," M'gann laughed.

"Can I keep 'em?!" they asked.

"First the sphere, now these beasts, geez, we're making a habit of collecting strays," Kid chuckled.

"Maybe cause I'm such a stray myself," Superboy shrugged. _"Sorry about earlier M'gann, I was just worried."_

 _"_ _I know, but out in the field I'm your teammate, not your girlfriend, ok?"_

 _"_ _Yea."_

 _"_ _Think we can add one more stray to that list?"_ 'Bee asked and they all stared at the python-sized, pitch black King Cobra sitting contentedly on his shoulders.

"Well their gonna need names," Wally said. "How about Krypto, Snowflake, and Terror?"

The wolf growled, the panther snarled, and the snake sprayed venom at him. "No."

"I'm thinking Moonknight," Emerald said scratching the panther's ears and it purred.

 _"_ _Starburst,"_ 'Bee said and the snake opened its hood, showing the large white star on its back that lead to the long white line trailing its spine.

"So Kaldur, I get why you didn't tell us, but I got to know why you were so keen on keeping it a secret," Robin stated.

Aqualad sighed. "The tip was from Sportsmaster."

"What?!"

"You can't trust him!"

"I didn't, I seemed possible he was trying to divide the team."

 _"_ _And given how this mission went he almost succeeded, but you had to consider every possibility without alerting the traitor."_

"Correct, though, I am still prepared to step down."

"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Emerald asked and they all raised their hands, but stopped to stare as Starburst raised his tail.

"Unanimous then," Captian said shaking his hand. "See you tomorrow."

"Not coming back with us?" Kid asked.

"Nope, gotta fly," he said taking off.

"So what are you gonna call him?" Megan asked.

"What's wrong with Wolf?" Conner asked.

"Genaric, but acceptable," Wally noted.

-.-

Fawcett City September 24

Captian Marvel flew into an open window where an older man sat in front of a tv reading a magazine. "How'd it go?"

"It was great! The team is way more fun than the League! They go on these super cool covert ops missions! And I got nabbed by the Brain! And I met this tiger—"

"Ok, ok sport, glad you had fun sport, but it's getting late. Bursh your teeth and hit the hay."

"Ok, ok I'm going."

The man cleared his throat. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Na I was just seeing if you were paying attention—Shazam!" Lightning struck and in Captian Marvel's place was ten-year-old Billy Batson. "Night Uncle Dudley."

"Night kiddo."


	26. Injustice

Chapter 25

 **A/N: I do not own TFP or YJ. Emerald Lantern is my friend's OC, I'm just borrowing her, with permission!**

 **/comms/**

 ** _Toughts/telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

Metropolis September 31

The ground shook as a giant plant began to rip its way out from under the streets and sidewalks of Metropolis. Shooting up out of the ground, it opened three huge flowers, the began going down to pick up cars and hurl them down the street.

-.-

Unknown Location

"Lovely," a woman said as they watched on a monitor. "The test is a complete success. We can proceed as planned."

"Good, we've operated in shadows for too long," Count Vertigo said. "It's time for the Injustice League to step into the light."

"Admit it, you can't look away as this story unravels," Joker laughed.

-.-

Mt. Justice

Robin and Kaldur stood in the ring sparring against each other. Both were doing pretty well against the other, seems like it would end in a draw. Off to the side Captain Marvel and Zatara stood watching the teens.

M'gann and Superboy walked in with wolf and they stopped sparring. "You know they're a couple right?" Robin whispered.

"I think I knew before they did," Kaldur smiled.

"So who's going to tell them?" Erica whispered as she and Bumblebee approached with their pets, motioning to Wally and Artemis walking in the other way.

"It is not our place."

 _"_ _And you're no fun."_

"So if Zatara's our babysittier of the week why is he still here? And why's he eating my snacks?!" Wally said glaring at Marvel.

"Batman—02. Optimus Prime—18."

"Computer national news," Batman said.

"The initial attack was short lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve. And despite the interventions of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight," the reporter said as they watched the giant attack plants.

"You want us to go out there?!" Robin asked eagerly.

"No, the League will have it under control soon. According to your intel Sprtsmaster supplied the Cadmus Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined ith with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom," Wally said.

"Which the Brain used to create his animal army," Robin said.

"And upgrate Wolf, Moonknight, and Starburst," Erica added.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars, like the ones used at Belle Reve Penitentary," M'gann commented.

"Think this plant's on Kobra Venom too?" Artemis asked.

"Green Lantern ran a spot analysis, the vine's cellulose does contain a Kobra Venom variant," Batman said.

 _"_ _These aren't coincidences, unrelated criminals are operating with each other worldwide."_

"Exactly, our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of supervillains, the attack on Metropolis, was only the beginning," Optimus said.

"Got that right," Robin said as he and 'Bee were typing away at the computer. "They've sprouted up in Jasper, Gotham City, Starr City, Taipei, and Paris."

The feeds cut off and both hackers cursed. "Guys."

 _"_ _Not us, someone's hacked the satellite signal, all satellite signals,"_ 'Bee informed.

Joker appeared on the screen. "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regular mayhem for this important announcement," the Clown King of Gotham smiled holding a pocket knife and turning the camera," from the _In_ justice League."

"We are responisible for the attacks on your cities, if you wish to save them, a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required, delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit," Count Vertigo stated.

"But, the longer you wait, the more we get to have our…jollies," Joker said before breaking into a fit of uncontrollable laughter as the feed cut off.

"This is Orion Pax, the UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback, but it will not come to that," Optimus said getting off his comm.

The feed rewinded and showed the members of the Injustice League. "Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Sinestro, Ultra Humanite, Atomic skull, Black Atom, Starscream, Wotan; nine heavy hitters," Robin said. "Probably behind everything we've come up against so far."

"There's the secret society," Wally growled.

"Not so secret anymore," Superboy frowned.

"Perhaps after India they realized that we would find out the truth and saw no point in hiding anymore," Kaldur suggested.

"That's their mistake, right now I say we go kick some plant creature butt!" Wally grinned.

"Plants don't have butts," Erica pointed out.

"Shut up Em!"

"The League will handle the plants, we have a different assignment for you," Optimus said.

"Aw."

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultainiously, there has to be a central control system," Batman said. "Your mission, is to destroy it."

"You realize what you're asking them to do?" Zatara said.

"They're ready," Optimus replied.

"Ready for what?" Wally asked.

"Hello Wally, if the big guns are out there fighting plants, who do you think we'll be fighting?" Artemis clarified smacking him.

"Oh…"

"I trust you two are correct," Zatara said shaking his head.

"I trust you can locate the enemy," Batman retorted.

"Indeed, Wotan's magic is part of how the plants are controlled. Can one of you provide a holomap?" Zatara asked and 'Bee pulled up a world map. "Etacol eht ecruos fo eht ecnabrutsid." A red dot appeared on the map. "There."

 _"_ _Coordinates locked: Louisinana bayou."_

"We're on our way," Aqualad said as they raced out to get changed and then leave.

"Captain Marvel, for this plan to work, the whole League must be seen fighting the plants, we're required elsewhere," Batman said stopping him before he ran off.

-.-

Gotham City

The Batplane flew over the plant, dropping a plantkiller on it. Captain Marvel flew down and ripped the plant up by its roots, and flew it out into space, before hurling it in the direction of the sun.

Zatara floated in a magic bubble over another plant. "Tes erif ot siht tnalp!" he said and the vines spontainiously combusted. Pods on the plant enlargened from the heat and Joker Venom was released into the air.

-.-

Louisinana

"Kobra Venom's got nothing on good ol' Joker Venom.

"Both work well in concert," Sinsestro smiled.

"Yes, but we're putting considerable strain on my baby," Poison Ivy said sitting next to part of the plant, the part she was in contact with turning bright green.

Ultra Humanite and Starscream approached checking over the technological systems integrated into the vine's biology.

"We will keep her healthy Ivy," Wotan said.

"But it needs more power, Skull!" Starscream snapped.

The grey man glowed and a beam shot from his head into the plant, making it turn bright green and leave sprouted from random parts.

"Stunning what teamwork can accomplish," Vertigo said.

The alarm sounded. "Intruders!" Starscream growled.

-.-

The team sat in silence as they flew into the bayou, each checking over their equipment. "What's in the duffel?" Kid Flash asked looking at the bag at Aqualad's feet.

"Plan B," he replied.

M'gann suddenly grabbed her head with a grunt of pain.

"You alright?" Superboy asked.

"Dizzy."

"Martains get airsick?" Robin asked.

"She does look greener than usual," Kid commented.

"Not me, her."

"I feel fine," Artemis and Emerald said.

"Not you two, the Bioship, she's trying to shield us…"

The ship came into view as Vertigo cut off his power. "There it is Atom, get it!"

The team grunted at the impact as the ship was sent spirialing into the swamp. Vines emerged and started wrapping around the ship.

M'gann cried out as they saw Black Atom rip open a hole in the ship's hull. "He's hurting her!" Superboy lunged and punched the man away.

As the ship sank deeper, water began pouring in through the hole. "No! No way am I drowning three missions in a row!" Artemis snarled grabbing rebreathers for herself and KF.

"Wow…thanks," he said taking it.

"M'gann we need to get out, open a hatch!" Superboy said.

"Hello Megan!" she said making gills alrong her neck.

Going underwater she opened a opening at the bottom. _"Out! Everyone out!"_ Aqualad ordered as they swam out and towards the shore. Getting out they went into the trees watching the ship vanish under the water.

"She's in shock, she'll need time to recover," the Martian informed.

Suddenly they all collapsed as a wave of vertigo hit them. "Vertigo," Kid growled.

"Count Vertigo to you peasant," he snarled.

Superboy got up, but Black Atom was on him instantly, slamming him back into the trees.

Aqualad pulled from the water, sending it crashing into the Count. _"Bumblebee, Robin, Miss Martain, Emerald disappear! We will keep them busy, you four fulfill the mission,"_ he ordered.

M'gann went into camouflage mode as Emerald went Black Lantern, fallowing 'Bee and Robin as they disappeared into the bayou.

-.-

Paris

Martian Manhunter flew towards the Eiffel Tower, holding Aquaman. As the flew over, he dropped him before phasing through the vines as the Atlantian started ripping through the plants, making an opening for those trapped to get out.

-.-

Taipei

Flash cut through the plants as he ran by. Blue Devil landed and stuck his pitchfork into the ground shooting rays that shot the plants off the nuclear power plant they were currently wrapping up. just as he was about to fire again, they squeezed, crushing the plant and alarms sounded as the radiation was released. Captain Atom flew overhead and into the radiaition cloud, absorbing the deadle substance that didn't harm him.

-.-

Jasper

Optimus ripped through the plants wrapping around a building, making an opening he had the people trapped inside climb down onto his hand. Ratchet drove over and they hopped off the Prime's hand and into the waiting ambulance, that drove away through the path carved out for him by the other Autobots. Arcee and Bulkhead were currently ripping through the roots of the plant trying to kill it. Green Lantern made a bubble around the plant, preventing it from attacking other buildings as Arcee and Bulkhead proceeded to throw grandes at it.

-.-

Starr City

The vines wrapped around the bridge cables, Red Arrow and Green Arrow shot together, making the vines explode and fall of the support cables they were slowly starting to break. Black Canary ran over the top of a school bus as the vines wrapped around it. Using her cry, she ripped apart the attacking vines, before one slammed her off.

-.-

Louisiana

"Poor heros, no matter what they do, it just doesn't seem to be enough," Joker said dramatically.

"Impressive, how you juggle multiple senarios," Starscream grinned.

"I've had practice, juggling my multiple personalities," he laughed. "School's out!"

-.-

Starr City

One of thre plants grabbed the bus, before hurling it acros the bay, where it was safely caught in a giant green baseball mit by a new Green Lantern.

-.-

Louisinana Bayou

Black Atom tossed Superboy's unconscious form down with the others. "We're missing four!" Vertigo growled.

 _"_ _I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others,"_ Miss M informed.

 _"_ _We can't help M'gann, the mission comes first,"_ 'Bee replied as they saw the compound.

 _"_ _Looks like that plant is acting as an antenna for the others across the world,"_ Robin said.

 _"_ _So we destroy it, we stop all the plants, sweet,"_ Emerald grinned.

"Well hello," Poison Ivy said wrapping them up in vines. Ultra Humanite hopped down and aimed his weapon at them. "And goodbye."

M'gann forced his arm to move down just as he shot, hitting the vines holding them instead.

"Sorry Boy Wonder, I'm putting an end to your little reconnisnace mission," Ivy said as he proceeded to dodge the vines she sent after him as Ultra Humanite went after M'gann.

Inside the compound, Joker was having a blast. "With all this power at my fingertips, some might call me a control freak, others, just freak, but that works for me!"

-.-

Gotham City

Batman growled as his bullets did nothing to affect the plant. A vine swooped up and hit his plane, and he flew out, landing on a nearby building.

"Part siht tnalp edisni siht elbbub!" Zatara said and a bubble appeared around the plant, cutting off the vines outside it, trapping most of it inside. one of the writhing vines slammied into a man, sending him flying off the bridge, where he landed on a trampololine that transformed into a very stretchy person.

-.-

Paris

A vine slammed into the news helicopter hovering nearby, the crew fell out before a glowing pink girl flew down and snatched them out of the air and another man in a maroon suit and green cape caught the falling copter.

-.-

Louisiana

Aqualad groaned as he and the others regained consciousness.

"They awaken, you sure this will hold them?" Vertigo asked.

"They cannot break it," Wotan smiled.

"You are not the only one trained in the mystic arts Wotan!" Aqualad snapped as he tried electrocuting the cage.

"Please, who said I was the one that made it," Wotan smiled as Sinestro flew in front holding the cage together.

Robin was knocked off his feet by one of the vines. "BATTER UP!" The vines preparing to slam down on him were instantly hit by a black baseball bat.

"You couldn't resist could you?" he asked.

"Nope!" she grinned as Moonknight flew next to her in a construct with wings that the cat could control before looking up. "Sinestro…"

 _"_ _She's made contact."_

 _"_ _Who? Artemis?"_ they asked.

 _"_ _No."_ The bioship flew plast, slamming into Wotan, knocking him and Count Vertigo off. Emerald flew up and swung a giant hammer into the Green Lantern traitor, sending him flying. The cage disappated and they fell into the swapy water.

"Not me! Stop those delinquents!" Vertigo demanded as Black Atom caught him.

"I hate monkeys," Superboy growled as he and Wolf lunged at Ultra Humanite.

Aqualad and Artemis got up and reached for their weapons as Poison Ivy approached them only to find they weren't there. "I feel naked, and not in a fun way," Artemis muttered.

"We will make our own fun, as we've been trained. Maneuver 7," Aqualad said. Artemis ran over and Aqualad vaulted her into the air, where she kicked Poison Ivy, in the face, off the plant she was on.

Kid Flash ran at Vertigo, but the man just used his power to slow the speedster down to where Black Atom punched him, with a sickening crack. "Where are Bumblebee, Robin, and the Martian?!" Vertigo demanded as he failed to spot those three.

 _"_ _It's going down! I'm yelling TIMBER!"_ 'Bee called from somewhere as the plant exploded.

"My baby!" Ivy cried out.

Sinsestro and Emerald paused in their fight for a moment. "Did he really just do that?" she muttered before Moonknight tackled the Yellow Lantern.

Ivy roared with rage and she tried to attack Miss Martian and Robin, who were standing on the roof. Miss M used her telekinesis to rip through the vines, before she was blasted down by a blast from Atomic Skull.

"Children, children ruined our plan?" Joker growled. "Inconceivable. Unacceptable! RETRIBUTIONABLE! That last might not be a word, but it soon will be!"

"Kill them all!" Starscream commanded as Bumblebee punched him in the face.

M'gann and Robin dodged an attack from Atomic Skull. Black Atom slammed into Superboy as Wold attacked Ultra Humanite; Moonnight flying down to help. Emerald and Sinsestro were locked in a fierce battle, the girl constantly changing her uniform to every corp but green. Artemis was brought to her knees by Count Vertigo.

"Leave her alone!" KF shouted.

"Enough!" Wotan said making lightning that hit the teens along with their pets, however it seemed to have a hard time catching Starburst who was currently trying to strangle Starscream as Bumblebee used the other Cybertronian as a shield against the lightning.

"Plan B," Aqualad said using his own power to deflect the lightning off him and Miss Martian. She nodded and the bioship flew over, dropping the duffel bag, opening it, Aqualad pulled out the Helmet of Fate.

"No Aqualad don't!" Wally shouted before he was punched aside by Black Atom, before he was hit by Superboy. Wally slammed into the tree with a painful snap.

Putting on the helmet, Fate flew up to face Wotan. "Wotan, you are mine." A beam came out of Fate's chest and slammed the other sourcerer into the roof, wrapping him in chains.

"I LIKE TRAINS!"

Sinestro flew past the chained wizard screaming as a red train chased after him.

"Wonder Boy, you are mine," Joker mimicked as he pulled out a knife. Robin ducked back and dodged the knife-weilding psycho clown. "Always wanted to carve this bird." He pulled out a second knife and chased after.

 _"_ _What's the matter Starscream? Tired of being Megatron's glitch again?"_ 'Bee sneered as he tried to stab the shap-clawed Decepticon.

"I am nobody's glitch!" he snarled swiping down, but the scout just rolled out of the way.

 _"_ _Really, I thought for certain you were, since you're always groveling at Megatron's feet."_

Starscream howled in rage leaping at Bumblebee who just grinned behind his mask. Raising his blade, he ducked under, stabbing the knife into a gap between the shoulder and pectoral plating, before grabbing his arm and hurling him into Emerald's train.

Wotan sent the chains back at Dr. Fate, who just absorbed them into his shield. "Wotan has prepared for your return Doctor," he smiled before shouting a speel and knocking Fate down slightly.

Miss M wove between the vines that Poison Ivy sent randomly to try to find the camouflaged girl. "I can't see you Martian, but perhaps I'll hear you scream!"

"And perhaps I can be of assistance," Vertigo said.

M'gann grabbed her head and fell, but Wally tore past, ripping off part of the Count's cape, catching her.

Artemis jumped up, and kicked the Count in the face, knocking him into Ivy.

KF ran behind a tree, cradling his broken arm, Artemis ran over and grabbed the cloth, jumping back as she saw Starburst slithering up to Wally's arm. "No, no, no," he muttered as the snake the wrapped itself into a sling for him. "Uh…thanks?"

Starburst hissed, looking at Artemis as she was slammed back as Wolf crashed into her.

"Artemis!" Ultra Humanite tried to attack him, but the gorilla back away as the massive cobra raised his head and sprayed venom at him. Moonknight flew down, attacking the gorilla as he was distracted.

Up in the air Sinestro grabbed Starscream off the train and tossed him at Emerald, the Cybertronian managed to cut a gash in her leg before going back down towards the ground crying out as another shot from Bumblebee hit him as he landed. Emerald glared at the Yellow Lantern before making a giant bone saw. Sinestro made a shield as she swung down, holding her back as the red saw slowly started to cut through the yellow shield.

"Surrender Wotan, you cannot hope to defeat a Lord of Order," Fate said shooting a blast at him but he just teleported behind him.

"I can and I will!" he said landing another blow on Fate.

"Toohs mih nwod!" A blast came down and shot Wotan out of the air as Zatara and the rest of the flying members of the League arrived. "Not tonight Wotan!"

A groundbridge appeared and the Autobots and other members of the Leauge rushed through. Batman tossed a bat-a-rang at Joker as he tried to stab Robin. "It's over."

Another bridge appeared and Starscream ran through it, abandoning his allies.

"There will be another day," Vertigo said as they surrendered.

"Another day? ANOTHER DAY? THERE WON'T BE ANOTHER DAY! NOT FOR ANY OF US!" Joker exclaimed as the spores on the plants exploded releasing Joker Venom.

"Joker Venom spores, don't breathe!" Batman said as he punched the clown unconscious.

"Fear not! Fate has interviened!" Fate proclaimed as he made all the gas vanish through a small portal.

 _"_ _Well that was dramatic,"_ 'Bee said before Optimus cuffed him on the back of the head.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? HOW COULD YOU LET KALDUR PUT ON THE HELMET! Nabu will never let him go now," Wally said. "Kaldur will be trapped inside Dr. Fate forever."

Fate reached up and removed the helmet.

"He let you go?"

"He almost did not, though your friend Kent Nelson was most helpful, he says hello," Kaldur smiled.

"We're done here, the supervillain secret society has been neutralized," Batman said. "As for your performance…it was satisfactory."

-.-

Unkonwn location

"Impressive, the plant creatures have proven their usefulness as potential weapons," Vandal Savage smiled.

"More importantly, the so-called heroes, now believe our secret society has been revealed, and crushed," Megatron smiled.

"With the Injustice League serving as our proxy, we are once again free to operate with impunity," Ras Al Ghul added as Queen Bee, Klarion Witch Boy, the Brain, Ocean Master, and Lex Luthor all smiled.

"And shadows, still conceal our light."

 **A/N: so guys, if y'all are interested in learning more about Erica, I suggest reading Emerald Lantern by Sil Vaturha 98, it's on my favorite's page. But there are some differences between them, just so you know.**


	27. I've Got Your Back

Chapter 26

 **A/N: I just own this story, nothing else.**

 **/comm/**

 **T** ** _elepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

Autobot base October 10

"The fun has arrived!" Emerald sang as she flew into the base. "Thank you very much."

"What are you doing here Emerald?" Ratchet asked as he typed away on the monitor, Starburst quietly napping on the top of it, Moonknight was lying nearby on the platform. "Well, Zatara brought his daughter to the Cave and I was wanting to take 'Bee to meet her. So where is he?"

"On a scouting mission with Optimus, sorry to disappoint," the medic huffed. "That's odd…"

"What?" she asked flying up.

"An unusual magnetic flux, for any planet."

-.-

Nemesis

"I recognize this magnetic field," Megatron said looking at the diagram on Soundwave's monitor. "It would be unfortunate a Decepticon invention such as this used against us."

"I will secure the weapon Lord Megatron," Breakdown offered.

The warlord laughed. "If you cold be bested by mere humans, what chance do you have against the Autobots and Justice League?"

"Allow me to redeem myself master. What I've lost, is a constant reminder of why I must never fail you again," he said touching his eyepatch, covering where is right eye used to be.

-.-

Autobot Base

"Bulkhead, Arcee, I need you both out in the field to test an odd magnetic disturbance," Ratchet informed.

"Can I come?" Emerald asked. "Please!"

"Alright kiddo, just don't get yourself hurt," Bulkhead stated.

"Aye, aye Captain!" she saluted.

-.-

Unknown location

"Jackpot," Breakdown said turning his servo into a hammer, slamming it down on the rocks. Breaking it away he picked up a handheld device.

Above him Arachnid smiled before lunging down and kicking the ex-Wrecker to the ground. "For me? you shouldn't have," she sneered picking it up.

"I didn't," Breakdown said slamming his hammer into her. "I heard a rumor about a rouge Con. How about I hog tie ya and take ya in?" Charging forwards, he slammed his hammer down on where she was, but turning he saw her smirking at him from where she leapt to.

"Primative." Breakdown roared and tried again, but the spidery woman just went further up the rock face. "Not much for depth perception are you?" she sneered.

"Not much for looks anymore," he growled activating his shoulder canon and firing it, making her leap off.

Drilling under him, Arachnid used her extra limbs to drag him down into the ground, coming back up she grabbed the device. "It was a lovely burial," she smiled hearing his grunts from underground. "Sorry, I can't understand you."

Breakdown roared like an animal as he dug himself out. Rolling her eyes, Arachnid got into a fighting stance as the brute charged at her with animalistic battle cries, replying with one of her own she ran at him.

-.-

The two Autobots in vehicle armor along with a very excited Lantern made their way towards the energy surge location.

"This is so exciting! I've never been on a mission with the Autobots without the team, or Hal, or some other Leaguer—besides y'all—and it's also the first time I've been on an Autobot mission without 'Bee. Wait! Never mind! There was that one time when we made that ship explode and Arcee totally kicked Arachnid's butt!" Emerald rambled on.

"Don't you think you're being a little loud for recon?" Arcee asked.

"Huh?" she asked. "I dunno."

"A scout should be silent but deadly," Arcee stated and Bulkhead and Emerald began chuckling. "What?"

"Arcee, you know that means something completely different on Earth right?" Emerald chuckled.

Rolling her eyes they continued towards the source of the disturbance. "Looks like Ratchet's magnetic flux from—!" Bulkhead stopped as they hid spotting Breakdown and Arachnid fighting.

"Arachnid," Arcee snarled watching as they battled over the device.

"And Breakdown, both your nemesises? Nemiesi?" Emerald said. "Geez, they're really goin' at it."

"Over that," Bulkhead frowned.

"The source of the disturbance," Arcee realized.

"So what's the plan?" Emerald asked.

"Emerald you're on standby, if you see either us in trouble or if you have an opportunity to get the device you can come out," Arcee stated.

"Got it," she said giving a thumbs-up.

Arachnid reached down to grab the magnetic device, but stopped as a shot blasted it away. "Arcee," she smiled. "Oh look, you brought a new partner for me to snuff, how thoughtful."

"Bulkhead," Breakdown growled.

"Who asked you?" the Decepticon femme growled.

"Launch me," Arcee said seeing an opportunity. Stepping onto Bulkhead's servo, he flung her up into the air. Pulling out her guns she fired down on the two Cons, who dodged the shots, landing between them.

Breakdown started to charge her when Arachnid hopped in the way. "She's mine!"

Bulkhead used his wrecking ball to slam the traitor down onto the ground. "Watch out for—!"

"Got it," Arcee replied as she traded her guns for arm blades. Using them the parred all of Arachnid's attacks, even managing to get inside her reach and use them to slam her to the ground.

Up on a rock Emerald sat watching the fight. "Wow, seems like I came for nothing," she shrugged. "Ah well, another one for the wall." Pulling out her phone she started snapping pictures of the fight.

Bulkhead was getting pressed back towards Arcee by Breakdown, just as it looked like the ex-Wrecker was going to shove his former teammate to the ground, Bulkhead tossed himself up, tossing him across the clearing.

Arcee wove under, around, and between Arachnid's legs, seeing an opening she ducked between to and vaulted off two rocks, sending her spidery rival crashing into Breakdown.

Getting to his feet, Breakdown picked up the device. "Thank you," he said activating it.

"Do you even know what it does?! It isn't a toy!" Arachnid snapped before fleeing seeing he was not going to listen to her. Arcee gave chase but stopped as the woman drilled underground.

"Hey!" Emerald protested as her phone was yanked out of her hand by an unseen force.

Nearby Bulkhead was struggling to resist the same one as he was slowly being dragged along with Arcee towards the one wielding the strange weapon.

"Uh oh," Emerald said flying up as he began lifting them into the air with the glowing weapon.

"What's this do?" Breakdown asked.

"Fore!"

A giant, green golf club swung down and hit Breakdown, sending him flying off who knows where…unfortunately with the device.

"Bulk!" Emerald said flying over and kneeling next to his helm. "You alright? Hey! My phone!" Grabbing it she began pulling as it seemed to be glued to Bulkhead's armor.

"Where's Arcee?"

"That's a good question," Emerald realized looking around.

"I'm right here."

"Where?" Bulkhead asked standing up and the Lantern smacked her forehead as she saw what happened.

"Let's just say she's got your back."

-.-

"Breakdown here. I'm gonna need a—whoa!" he stopped running into a bunch of webbing. Transforming he glared up at the smiling spider.

-.-

/You've been magnetized?/ Ratchet scoffed. /Together?/

"They're inseperable," Erica growled pulling away the tenth tool she tried.

"And the device that did this is on its way to Buckethead," Bulkhead added.

/A polarity gauntlet. A deceptively simple, but diabolicle creation/

"Please just tell us you can separate us," Arcee groaned.

/It could just be a residual magnetic charge resulting in their temporary…attraction/

"I KNEW IT!"

"We're not attracted to each other in that way!" they respoded.

/I'm afraid retrieving the gauntlet is the best way to separate you two. And once Megatron gets his hands on the gauntlet…/

"He'll use it for a whole lot more than attaching notes and photos to the fridge," Emerald realized. "Instantainious forcefield and WMD."

/Good news is that it hasn't travelled far. I strongly advise pursuit/

"We can catch up faster on wheels," Bulkhead declared.

"Whoa! And snap me in half?" Arcee protested.

"Right…"

"Hop on," Emerald said making a platform.

"You think that will hold us?"

"I've had bigger, get on," she said.

-.-

"It fits!" Arachnid sneered holding the gauntlet in front of a wrapped-up Breakdown. "You know a girl can't have too many accessories."

"You were a Decepticon once, perhaps we can bring the prize to Megatron together," Breakdown tried to reason.

Arachnid scoffed. "Go back to that boys' club? I left because I don't like sharing," she stated. "This will be the perfect repellant against Decepticons and Autobots alike."

-.-

"Hey, the bright side about this is that we both benefit from it," Bulkhead said. "I've never had eyes in the back of my head before, or blasters to cover my rear. And you get a built-in shield."

"I still would rather have my indepenant mobility."

"It's close," Emerald said looking at the scanner. Landing at an abandoned gas station they stared looking around before turning to find a tied-up Breakdown.

"I suppose Arcee isn't far behind?" Arachnid asked crawling down from the roof, gauntlet in hand. "Blaster hands in the air and turn around. Same with you Lantern."

"Whatever you say," Bulkhead said whipping around, allowing Arcee to fire on a very surprised Arachnid. One of the shots knocked it out of her hand, activating it.

"I got it!" Emerald said swooping down and picking it up with a construct just as Breakdown tore free. Turning it off she looked to see how Bulkhead rolled back to where he and Arcee were between both Cons.

"Still up for a truce muscles?" Arachnid asked.

"Only because I hate Bulkhead more than I hate you," he growled back.

Breakdown and Bulkhead fought at the same time Arcee and Arachnid did as well. Arcee cried out as Arachnid was pulled from her view and then swung back to punch her as Bulkhead kept moving.

"Bulkhead! Stay still!" she snapped.

"Sorry," he replied punching Breakdown away.

"How do I work this?" Emerald asked herself from where she flew above them.

"Need a hand?" Bulkhead asked whipping around to fight Arachnid.

"She's mine!" Arcee whined.

"Maybe this one!" Emerald said pressing one and lifting the hammer shaped thing on the oil drill. Moving it she accidently knocked it into Bulkhead, making him fall back and land on poor Arcee. "Sorry!"

"Emerald!" Arcee snapped as a pede landed on her servo.

"Pinned like a buck," Arachnid sneered. "However, I can think of one way this would be better and a permanent way out of your predicament."

"I'll take topside," Breakdown smiled before he was hit by part of the oil drill right into Arachnid.

"I think I got the hang of this!" Emerald said lifting the metal only for the device to suddenly drop it, almost landing on Arcee and Bulkhead. "Or not…"

Getting up Arcee and Bulkhead looked at each other. "We're free!"

"You're welcome! Don't know what did, but you're welcome!"

Breakdown charged Arcee, but the lithe woman just leapt up, flipped in the air, and lended right on his helm, shoving it into the dirt. As he got up she punched him repeatedly before he swiped at her, knocking her back.

"Wanna dance?" Bulkhead growled.

"You're not my type," Arachnid replied as she leapt up and used her extra metal legs to slam into him. Flipping over him she webbed Arcee and yanked her over. "Let's leave the boys to themselves shall we?" The females began fighting as Bulkhead hurled Breakdown through one of the oil drills.

"What about this one?" Emerald asked pressing a button and sending Arachnid flying away from Arcee. "Seems opposites do not attract!"

Bulkhead and Breakdown charged each other before some force hurled them away. Attempting to fire a missile the missile turned away from Bulkhead, went back to Breakdown, before veering up into the air where it exploded.

"We can't touch metal?"

"You're polarized!" Emerald called from where she was messing with the gauntlet.

"Always leave on a high note," Arachnid shrugged transforming into a helicopter and trying to fly away. Key word: try.

Emerald flew over and used a giant green fly swatter to slam her down right onto Breakdown. "Ok! Let's finish this!"

"No Emerald, we're not becoming twins again," Arcee scolded as the girl was about to press the red button.

"Fine," she huffed, the construct she had holding the gauntlet dropping it into Arcee's waiting servo.

-.-

Base

"Souvienir," Bulkhead said as Ratchet took the gauntlet.

"We don't advise indoor use," Arcee stated.

-.-

Central City

"So how was your day?" Erica asked.

"Awesome! We got to meet Zatanna, then we hunted down Red Tornado, who actually is not the mole! Anyways we fought his evil brother who was trying to destroy the world with a supervolcano eruption."

"Well, I got to go off with Arcee and Bulkhead on a mission against Breakdown and Arachnid for a polarity gauntlet."

"Aw man!"

-.-

Nemesis

"Breakdown, you dare return empty handed?!" Megatron snarled glaring at the man still in his vehicle armor for some unknown reason.

"No Master," he replied turning around to reveal a spider femme in her own armor trapped on his back.

"Arachnid, it's been some time," he said.

"Lord Megatron, what can I say? It's good to be back."

 **A/N: I know I'm not one for talking at the end of chapters, but I have to say people. Don't be afraid to review, I do not mind.**


	28. Cave In

Chapter 27

 **A/N: I just own the story, nothing else!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy/thoughts_**

 ** _"_** ** _Synthesised voices"_**

October 15, Abandoned Mine

"I doubt after the fiasco y'all caused, Zatara won't be letting Zatanna back into base for awhile," Emerald stated as Robin and KF finished explaining what happened.

Hearing the heavy thuds of Bulkhead's and Arcee's vehicle armor they turned to see them walking out of the mine they were investigating. "By all appearances, the mine seems to be stripped," Arcee said.

The chestplate of Bulkhead's armor opened and he popped out of the cockpit, holding the energon scanner. "But I'm getting a signal, it's faint, but it's definitely energon," the Wrecker replied.

"Makes no sense, by the looks of it this was one of the first mines, and it's been abandoned for awhile now," Arcee frowned. "And Cons never leave even a sliver of energon behind."

"SWEET!" Wally shouted running in.

"You've got to be kidding me," Arcee sighed.

"It is Wally," Erica shrugged.

"Kid Flash, get back here!" Bulkhead called going back inside and chasing after.

"It would be interesting to see," Emerald said as Robin nodded.

"You know if it was…" he began.

"Safe? A stripped mine is structurally unstable," Arcee said.

"Then we shall step lightly," Kaldur smiled.

Arcee sighed. "Not a word to your mentors."

As they went in, two jets flew down, transforming into Megatron and Starscream. "Lord Megatron, far be it for me to question your intentions, but I don't understand why we've returned here after all this time," Starscream stated. "Alone."

Megatron just glanced at his SIC before he began walking in.

"Every last trace of energon was exracted from this mine, there's nothing left," the seeker continued.

"Indulge me Starscream, won't you?" Megatron asked continuing on into the mine, making the nervous SIC fallow.

-.-

"Wally?! Wally!" Bulkhead called.

"This place is awesome!" the speedster said running up onto Bulkhead's shoulder. "ECHO!"

"ECHO…Echo…echo…"

Rolling his optics he looked back to his scanner. "Arcee I got something." No reply.

"Ok, maybe the acoustics aren't that great," KF shrugged.

"Well, we're here, Doc's gonna want a sample," Bulhead sighed heading over to the wall. Pulling out his wrecking ball he started mining.

-.-

"Bulkhead?" Arcee asked. "Bulkhead do you read?" No answer. "Scrap. Mineral composition down here is causing interference."

"Don't worry, he was probably calling to say he found my idiot cousin," Emerald chuckled.

"Or that he found the source of the energon signal," Aqualad corrected.

"Either way, we know he found something," Robin pointed out.

"True," Arcee shrugged. "C'mon, let's keep going."

-.-

"How interesting," Megatron said as he saw the several drills they used for mining still within the abandoned mine.

Starscream flinched before shaking in false anger. "Those incompetent fools! This mining equipment should've been relocated! Why is it still here?!"

"A most valid question," Megatron stated coolly noticing how the seeker once again flinched at his voice.

"My apologizes Master, I believe Soundwave was in charge of coordinating transport," Starscream huffed. A low growl gescaped from the Warlord's throat, as if his TIC ever made a mistake. "But in fairness, in your absence we all had to assume additional responsibilities, clearly mistakes were made."

"Yes…clearly," Megatron replied before slamming his fist into the wall and pulling out a chunk of energon. "What was it you said? Every last trace of energon extracted?!"

"Lord Megatron, I can explain."

Megatron bared his fangs. "Explain what?! that you've been hoarding a supply of energon for your own personal use?!"

"No…you see…I…"

"DO NOT TAKE ME FOR A FOOL STARSCREAM! I have been wise to your transgressions from the beginning, it is because of you my little sister wants my head on a pike! Not only did you demolish the Youth Sectors against my orders, but you ripped the Dark Energon from my chest in a failed attempt to assassinate me, and you tried to raise your own undead warrior with it. It is no secret that you lost an arm in the process, which you did manage to retrieve after destroying your failed attempt."

"YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!"

"Soundwave is quite resourceful when it comes to surveilence, I can assure you. The fact is Starscream, despite your trechary for these many millennia, I've let you live because I took delight and was amused by your string of failures. But you've become tiresome, predictable," Megatron said aiming his cannon towards him. "You've hit Rock Bottom."

"MASTER PLEASE! GIVE ME ONE MORE CHANCE! I BEG OF YOU!" he exclaimed falling to his knees in a bow.

"You have ceased to be of use to me Starscream, so you shall certainly cease to be," Megatron replied.

Starscream covered his head with his arms turning away only to spot Robin, Aqualad, and Emerald standing there as Arcee turned the corner. Fallowing his gaze, Megatron narrowed his eyes at them before roaring and swinging his cannon at them.

Making a shield, Emerald and the others ducked behind a wall. "Stay down!" Arcee commanded.

"I got this," Emerald smirked before flying past Megatron in a green blur and the appearing in front of him with a massive frying pan. "HI!" Swinging it down onto his head, the warlord fell as she quickly drew a mustache on his armored face before flying back to them.

Seeing his chance Starscream ran for it, as Megatron got up. "STARSCREAM! YOU DARE ABANDON ME?!" he shouted shooting in his direction.

Seeing her chance Arcee and Robin ran out her shots hitting his back as Robin's bat-a-rangs exploded. He swung back around but a whip of water knocked his hand up sending his shots into the ceiling.

And the mine began to cave in.

-.-

Emerald and Aqualad got up coughing once the dust cleared. "Arcee?" Aqualad called. "Robin?"

No response.

"Guys?!" Emerald shouted.

No reply.

"It seems we have all been separated, and our comms do not work. We will have to find the others before we run out of air," Aqualad stated.

"You mean before you run out of air, my ring protects me in space," Emerald reminded.

"Which way should we go?" Aqualad asked looking around.

Emerald lifted her ring and began scanning. "I'm getting a life signal from this way," she said leading the way.

-.-

Wally coughed as he sat up. "Did I do that?" Bulkhead asked.

"I don't think so big guy," he replied.

"You alright?"

"As I can be," KF huffed as he looked up. "How bout you?"

"Just peachy," Bulkhead ground out as he held up a massive rock that would crush them if it came down.

"Whoa…"

"Don't worry Wally, I've got this," he reassured.

"Any ideas on what caused this?"

"Only Primus knows, let's just hope the others are safe, cause we can definitely use an assist."

Wally nodded. "Just keep raising the roof, I can get us out," he said starting to pull rocks away from the entrance.

-.-

Starscream coughed as he finally dug his way out. Turing around and looking back down, he began laughing histerically. "Predictable Master?! Is that what you called me?! Well now who's hit Rock Bottom?!" he laughed. "What's that?! I couldn't hear you beneight all the rubble! Farewell Lord Megatron! May you rust in peace!" Turning to walk away he froze. "…But you have survived far worse…if you do manage to free yourself you'd blame me for your accident and there's no where I can escape your wrath, or worse yet, your mindless fallowers will come looking for you! And take credit for your rescue! Credit that could rightfully be mine! Agh! MEGATRON!"

-.-

"Arcee?"

"Bulkhead?"

"Wally!"

"Robin?"

"Still nothing," Aqualad sighed as they entered a vast cavern. "Anything on that life signal?"

"Well it's Cybertronian, I can tell that much," she replied flying over a drill. "The signal's coming from here." Making a drill construct, she began to drill through the rocks.

-.-

Wally's limbs shook as he lifted another rock, taking a few steps back the rock slipped and he fell back, gasping for air. "Kid Flash! That's enough!" Bulkhead scolded.

"Don't worry 'bout me Bulk" he said waving him off, "I'm fine."

"No you aren't."

"Chill, I just…need to…rest…for a sec," he huffed sitting down.

"Wallace, listen to me, there's no fresh air down here, if you use up the oxygen too fast…" Bulkhead trailed off.

"We'd suffocate," Wally stated.

"Correction, you would, Autobots don't need to breathe when in our armor, and even then, we can turn off our breathing capacities for a full twenty-four hours" Bulkhead reminded.

"Right! Smackdown in space! That was awesome…ok…how about…if I just slow down, and breathe less," he said crawling over to a rock and trying to lift it.

"No, you need to stop, now!"

"I can't Bulk…I have to get us outta 'ere," he said leaning back in exhaustion.

"Kid don't worry about me," Bulkhead ground out as he felt the shifts and creaks in the arms, "I'm fine…hear that?"

"Sound like…"

"Drilling, it's got to be Emerald, Arcee, Robin, and Aqualad," Bulkhead said trying to be positive.

"We're in here! …here" Wally tried to shout.

"KF, grab something and bang it on my foot, can you do that?"

"But what if I hurt you?" he said lifting a rock that didn't seem as heavy earlier as it was now.

Bulkhead chuckled. "Hey I'm tougher than I look, besides, I'm actually sitting in the middle of this thing's chest. That's just part of the armor. Now give it all you got."

Nodding, Wally began pounding the rock against the metal.

-.-

"Oops," Emerald said as she pulled the drill away and Aqualad saw why.

"I suppose helping out the less fortunate is out of the question," Megatron said looking at them. "Well, if that is the case, you might as well kill me now. I garuntee you will never have a better opportunity than right now."

Emerald and Aqualad glanced at each other, one in uncertainty, the other trying not to burst into laughter about the mustache drawn on his face.

"Well? What are you two sidekicks waiting for? Think of the glory, seize the day! Optimus would."

"No, he wouldn't," Aqualad replied. "Not like this. Let's go."

"I'll be sure to share the details of our meeting with Optimus the day I tear out his spark!" Megatron taunted. Seeing they weren't coming back he maneuvered himself to start chipping away at the gap.

-.-

"That's it! Keep going!" Bulkhead encouraged.

Wally lifted the rock again for another go, when a hiss made him stop. "What was that?"

"Nothing! Keep at it!" Bulkhead said as his arms started shakining.

"Bulkhead, what's going on?"

"My arms…they're starting to give."

"Are you alright?" Wally asked.

"Fine, just a dull ache from keeping this up. Help's on the way! Just keep banging," Bulkhead stated. Nodding Wally picked the rock back up and continued his task, before sliding to his knees. "They any closer?"

Getting up Wally tried to pinpoint the direction of the noise. "I can't tell, the sounds all…" he trailed off as he fell again. The sound finally came at the rock wall.

"Yes!"

"They found us!" Wally gasped in relief.

They were proven wrong as the remaning rocks came in and a familiar laugh echoed around them. "Put any doubt of my alligance to rest Lord Megatron!" Starscream said looking in to find an Autobot and sidekick instead.

"What's he doing here?" Wally gasped as he took in fresh air.

"Kid get behind me, now!" Bulkhead ordered and the speedster vanished behind his legs as the Con broke in.

"Well, well, if it isn't Bulkhead and his pet," Starscream sneered. "My, you sure do have your hands full."

"Do whatever you want to me Starscream! But let the human go!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Seems the human would rather stay," Starscream said reaching for him, only for Wally to duck behind the other leg.

"Don't push me Starscream," Bulkhead threatened.

"You like playing with the big bots don't you boy?" Starscream said as he reached for the boy again.

Bulkhead lashed out, kicking him back into the wall. With a groan he adjusted his postion to where the boulder was resting on his shoulders.

"THAT'S IT AUTOBOT! I WILL—!"

"What? You'll what? Kill me and make this whole room collapse on top of us!" Bulkhead snapped. "Kid Flash! Run!"

Wally shook his head, burying his exhausted form into one of the seams in Bulkhead's armor.

"Yes Kid Flash, run, I'd love to see you try to be as fast as the Flash," he teased.

The sound of drilling came again and a green drill ran right into Starscream, knocking him back. "Emerald! Aqualad! Get Kid out of here! Now!" Bulkhead ordered.

Emerald flew over and made a construct to help hold the ceiling up as Aqualad picked up his friend and ran back up the tunnel.

"Well girlie, do you like to play with the big boys like your friend there?" Starscream asked as the girl helped Bulkhead hold up the ceiling, taking most of the weight on even portions of her construct columns.

"Na, I just beat them up," she smiled making a baseball bat and slamming him into the wall, the columns still standing strong.

A gun charged as Arcee and Robin came in. "I wouldn't move if I were you," she smiled.

"Middle of the room," Robin ordered. Slowly getting up the cowardly Con stepped in front of Bulkhead gazing at the three aiming weapons at him warily. "Raise your hands!"

"Aw."

"Suck it up buttercup," Emerald smirked as Bulkhead collapsed to his knees and her constrcust disappeared as he took the burden.

-.-

"We could end it, here and now," Arcee said as they looked at the entrance.

"Pity I forgot to pack grenades," Bulkhead growled.

"Would Optimus…you know…do it? Finish them?" Robin asked.

"No, he wouldn't, not like this," Arcee sighed.

"But he wouldn't rescue them either right?" Wally groaned.

"Let's go," Bulkhead said.

-.-

Starscream whined against the immense weight pressing against his shoulders. Turning his head, he jumped slightly as he saw Megatron gazing at him silently.

"Master, you're alive! Thank the All-Spark!"

Megatron stood there silently, but a small feral grin was creeping to his lips.

"I did not abandon you Master! I returned! To save you!"

"Save me?" Megatron asked.

"Look into my Spark Lord Megatron, my intentions were true. Please! Have mercy!" he begged as his leader's eyes narrowed with a sadistic smirk.


	29. Gone

Chapter 28

 **A/N: I just own this story, nothing else!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"'_** ** _Bee's voice"_**

The Green Lanterns, minus Emerald, flew out towards a ship going past Earth's moon. Fallowed by Batman's own spaceship. "Deploying Camera sensor units."

"Hault. You are entering Earth Space, disengage all weapons and engines, this is your final warning," the Lanters said before a beam shot out of the ship, breaking their shields and disintergrating them.

"Code Red, all offenses deploy!" Batman said opening the hatch dropping Martian Manhunter, Superman, Captain Atom, and Captain Marvel.

The ship fired out tow more beams, fallowing the incoming heroes, catching Manhunter and Superman first before getting Marvel and Atom. One hit the Batship and Batman ejected out. One fighter flew over to his ecaspe pod, open firing.

-.-

Oct 20, Mt. Justice

The team stood watching the scene unfold as Zatara and Optimus commed in. /Tornado…did you…?/ Zatara asked.

"Yes, Zatara, celestial defenses have failed," Tornado replied.

/I've already initiated all terrestrial measures/ Optimus said. /Get to your stations, we cannot allow these things to win/

"I must join the League, we will protect the planet at all costs. But if we fail, the task will fall to you," Red Tornado said once they hung up.

"We stand ready," Aqualad stated.

-.-

Central City

"This is Iris West-Allen reporting live. The extraterrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City—" she stopped as a ship flew down and vaporized a dozen people behind her. One aiamed at her before a red blurr ran by and grabbed her, and Zatara used his magic to grab her cameraman.

"You should both be safe here," Zatara said.

"Thank you Flash…and Zatara," Iris nodded as Flash put a hand on her shoulder before going back out.

"Etativel em won!" Zatara said flying up

"Denny you ok?" Iris asked and he gave a thumbs-up. "As you can see the Justice League is attempting to hold them off—!" A ship flew down, destroying the roof atara and Flash were on. "No!"

Another ship flew down and vaporized her and her cameraman.

-.-

Jasper

Optimus fired his ion cannons at the incoming ships as Arcee transformed off a roof, landing on one making another fire at it before repeating the process. As she leapt off one ship shot through her armor's torso, her lifeless form falling to the ground with a gaping hole in the chest where Arcee was supposed to be inside.

Nearby Bulkhead was swinging his wrecking balls, destroying any ship that got too close, two flew up in front of him and he charged with a battle cry. What he failed to notice was the one coming up behund him, shooting through his armor like they did Arcee.

"Ratchet! Get the civilians out of here!" Optimus commanded, ducking behind a building.

Nodding, the medic transformed and pulled as many people into the ambulance as he could. Driving through the streets avoiding ships he made a wrong turn, and like the others he vehicle and those inside were gone.

Prime ducked under another shot, rolling to his feet and shooting down another ship. Racing forwards he lifted it and hurled it into another making it explode. Grabbing several more vehicles he tossed them each into a ship.

Turning he had barely just enough time to bail from his armor as a lazer ripped right through it. Getting to his feet, he turned to see one looming in front of him before it open fired.

-.-

Taipei

The Hawks dove under a crashing ship before one came up from behind and vaporized them. On the ground, Green Arrow and Black Canary fought them off, sending arrows and screams to throw them off course.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as soon they too met the same fate as the rest.

-.-

Smallville

Wonder Woman spun around, releasing the ship trapped in the rope as she hurled it into another.

"Wonder Woman! Above you!" Tornado called as one shot at her.

Seeing his teammate fail to get out of the way, Tornado flew out and over the city as the mothership landed. "Red Tornado to Cave, I fear that I am all the remains of the League," he said as he too fell.

-.-

Cave

"We are Earth's heroes now," Aqualad said as they watched the news feeds.

"What are we waiting on? Theme song?" Superboy growled.

 _"_ _No, what we need is a strategy,"_ Bumblebee replied.

"Our weapons are ineffective, not even Lantern rings or Autobot tech could stop them," Emerald stated. "There has to be something that works against them."

"Checking satellite imagery," Robin said pulling up a map with dozens of red zones on it. "Here's where the aliens are now."

"That one get lost?" Superboy asked pointing to one singe ship in the arctic.

"It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude!" Robin gasped.

"Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?" Conner gaped.

 _"_ _The powersource must've gotten their attention, at least enough to send a scout to investigate,"_ 'Bee stated.

"Must be some fortress."

"It houses a lot of alien tech that the League believes needs to be kept out of the hands of evil," Erica said.

"Em," M'gann scolded.

"It's ok, I guess there's a lot of things about Superman I'll never know…you know…now," he shrugged.

"To fight the enemy we must study them," Emerald said. "We should go after this loner, capture and study, this way we can make weapons to fight back."

"Yea! We should hit those ugly aliens where it hurts!" Wally agreed.

Artemis elbowed him. "Martian, Kryptonian, and Cybertronian in the house," she reminded and he paled at seeing the three extra-terrestrials looking at him.

"Not that all aliens are automatically ugly," he sweatdropped.

You really should think before you speak Wally," Erica scolded.

-.-

Artic

The lone ship sat in front of the fortress, seemng to be waiting for someone to come out.

Artemis ducked behind a drift in her snowgear as Emerald hid on the other side in her regular uniform, each waiting for the signal.

Bumblebee appeared from the drifts and slid under the craft, placing his hand on it electricity sparked as it fritzed out. _"Communications and propulsion disabled,"_ he informed rolling out from under it as it fell to the ground.

Artemis moved into the gap and shot an arrow, foam covering the ship's entrance. _"And ETs are sealed inside!"_ she said as it fired a few shots randomly, each barely missing her and the White Lantern.

Aqualad looked up and borke the ice as he emerged, making the ship stuck in the frozen landscape. As he landed on part of the craft the cannon turned towards him, but was knocked aside, the shot missing as Moonnight and Wolf slammed into it, Starburst riding contentedly on Moonnight's back.

Superboy leapt out and grabbed the connon, holding it still as the others rushed over. _"Determining weapon structural stress points and links to the ship…here, here, and here,"_ Robin pointed as Miss M appeared and used her telekinesis to hit the points.

Conner began pulling two pieces falling out behind him, whining as they activated. Wolf and Moonight perked up, seeing what was about to happen the two knocked him out of the way, vaporizing all three pets.

 _"_ _Wolf."_

 _"_ _Moonknight."_

 _"_ _Starburst."_

 _"_ _There was no indication of feedback, I'm sorry,"_ Robin sighed.

 _"_ _Nothing we can do now,"_ Superboy said going back and finally ripping the cannon off.

M'gann called the bioship over and Superboy set it down as she and 'Bee got to work intergrating the new tech with the ship's systems.

 _"_ _Rerouting systems to intergrate cannon, we'll have to decamouflage for this,"_ M'gann informed.

 _"_ _We might not have a few minutes!"_ Robin said as three more ships flew over.

 _"_ _Miss Martian open fire!"_

 _"_ _Can't all Bioship weapons are offline till the new weapon is installed, and that's not done yet!"_ 'Bee growled.

 _"_ _We got ya covered! Get inside we're almost there!"_ Artemis and Emerald said.

Firing two arrows, Artemis shot down two of the ships as Emerald crushed the third with a giant hammer. As Artemis ran back towards the ship, one of the fallen ships turned its cannon on her, and fired before anyone could even warn her.

"ARTEMIS!" M'gann and Wally screamed.

Emerald looked down and fired a ray of pure energy from her ring, demolishing the ship that killed her teammate. Hearing more she turned to see five others coming at her. Shooting at them, she made a shield and completely shot through one, tearing it apart from the inside out. Coming out she shot two beams at the others, hitting their cannons, making them explode. A sword appeared in her hand, and she sliced the engines off one, letting it fall to the ground as she attacked the other, using another construct to completely smash it. The one that crashed turned its cannon up at her, the beam hitting the enraged White Lantern.

"EMERALD!" Wally screamed as 'Bee stood there completely frozen with wide, horrified eyes.

"Get inside all of you!" Aqualad ordered as he pulled out his water bearers, using them to shatter the ice the ship landed on, making ice spikes that ripped through it.

"They're dead, every last one of them, if it's the last thing I do!" Wally snarled shaking with rage.

-.-

The team sat in silence as they coped with the loss of two of their teammates. M'gann cried as Wally slammed his fist down on the controls near him repeatedly crying out in anger.

 _"_ _Enough,"_ Bumblebee said standing up. _"We can mourn later, for now we must put out emotions aside and put the mission first."_

Wally shot to his feet. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?! EMERALD WAS MY COUSIN! YOUR BEST FRIEND! DID YOU NOT CARE FOR HER AT ALL?!" he screamed before a harsh smack resounded throughout the ship.

Wally and the team stared at Bumblebee in shock, the speedster holding his cheek from where his teammate backhanded him, his face remaining a stoic mask that almost put Batman and Optimus to shame. _"Get ahold of yourself, now is not the time to be letting your emotions interfere with the mission objective. Believe it or not, we are at war. And to ensure their sacrifies were not in vain we must continue the mission, no matter what happens or who gets killed, that's the way war works,"_ he stated harshly, the many millennia of conflict darkening his features and showing an ancient look in his eye that they'd never seen before. The look of someone who'd seen things that no one ever should.

"Back to the cave?" Miss Martian asked.

"The Hall of Justice," Aqualad said. "The human race must know there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

-.-

Washington DC

"OPEN FIRE!" a General shouted. The army began shooting at the incoming ships.

Spinning out of the way, the ships shot at them, making the soldiers run as the tank line was hit.

The Bioship flew up behind the three vessels and opened a hole for Bumblebee and Superboy to leap out. Supeboy landed on one, punching the top in, making it fall to the ground. Bumblebee literally used his momentum to fall through the ship, deactivating it as he went, coming out the bottom, he swung back up onto the next, ripping out the cannon and turning it onto the fallen ship and then onto the ship he was on, leaping onto the ground as it vaporized itself.

Superboy and Bumblebee stood before the cheering soldiers as the Bioship landed, letting the others get out.

"See, it is Superman, told ya he wouldn't leave us hanging," one guy smiled.

"Don't know…he looks a little young," another guy commented.

"I'm not Superman," Superboy clarified.

"I don't know who you are son, and I don't care. You wear the S and you got the job done," the General said saluting as Aqualad and the others let their most experienced with the military step forwards.

"I'm not Superman…"

"Tell that to the enemy," he said turning to salute to Bumblebee as he stepped up. "General Wade Ely US Air Force."

 _"_ _Bumblebee, Autobot Scout, Justice League,"_ he replied doing the Cybertronian salute in return, making a fist and placing over one's spark. _"We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' ships as we can, then we start taking back what is ours."_

After a few hours of work the team walked into the remains of the Hall of Justice, looking around in shock. "They're really gone," Robin said quietly.

Miss Martian flew up to the fallen statue of her uncle and began crying. As she wept, she almost jumped as a hand fell on her shoulder, looking up she saw Bumblebee looking down at her, a hint of empathy in his unusually cold eyes. _"Remember what I said, don't let your emotions affect your judgement,"_ he cautioned before turning and walking away.

She looked at him as he left, starting to see the coldhearted, ruthless soldier that was forged in him, not the caring, good-humored, quiet teammate who always had time to listen to what you had to say. She was so wrapped up in her throughts, she almost didn't detect a familiar mind brush her own. Flying back, she lifted the fallen statue of her uncle to find her uncle under it, holding his head in pain. "Uncle J'ohn!" she exclaimed tossing the rock aside and started moving towards him before 'Bee jumped in the way, aiming a blaster at his head.

 _"_ _M'gann, check his mind! Make sure he is who he appears to be,"_ Aqualad ordered.

 _"_ _It's him! He's real! He's alive!"_ she said.

"But we saw you get disintergrated, you and Superman, and everyone!" Superboy snapped.

"Yes…I remember…but, I cannot remember how I survived…or how I got here," he said.

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you!" M'gann smiled.

"Scrambling your brains along the way!" Robin added and 'Bee lowered his gun.

"My mind is clouded…I was sure there was something I was supposed to tell you…" Manhunter said.

 _"_ _Hello Wally! C'mon!"_ he said and Robin and Bumblebee fallowed him out to the Bioship where they scanned the cannon. _"I knew it! Look! It's giving off Zeta Beams! The same thing that powers out Zeta Tubes! These things don't decintergrate, they teleport! Artemis and Emerald are alive!"_

 _"_ _It's possible, and explains why the sparkbond with Dad hasn't severed…but—"_ 'Bee began before Wally whipped towards him.

 _"_ _Like I asked for your opinion!"_

 _"_ _Don't get cocky Wallace West, it could be the last thing you ever do, trust me. I know from personal experience,"_ 'Bee growled rubbing his throat, before going to the front line to stand watch.

"That must be what you were going to tell us!" M'gann said.

 _"_ _We've bogies incoming!"_ 'Bee called.

 _"_ _On our way!"_ Aqualad said.

 _"_ _No! We can't win this! Miss Martian camouflage the Bioship!"_ Robin said before a beam hit the ship and both Martians were tossed to the ground in pain.

"That…didn't feel like…" she stuttered as Superboy helped her up.

 _"_ _Everyone! Fall back!"_ Bumblebee commanded.

 _"_ _Dude! What are you doing?!"_ Wally said staring as 'Bee pulled out a few granades, a sword, and two whips.

 _"_ _Not everyone will make it out of this alive. I will buy you as much time as I can so you can evacuate as many people as you can,"_ he answered.

 _"_ _Bumblebee! We cannot allow you to go through with this,"_ Aqualad said.

 _"_ _Kaldur, this is how it works in war, I've already seen two of my teams die, please don't let me see you become the third. Besides, this is what I was trained to do. Till all are one,"_ 'Bee said before slamming his mental walls, kicking the telepathic link out.

The level B technopath connected with all the vehicles in front of the Hall. Opening his violet eyes with a roar they all transformed and started attacking the ships. He himself leapt onto one, ripping the roof off before tossing a grenade in, sealing it, and leaping to another and repeated the process several more times till he ran out of granades. The ships exploded bits crashing into each other and ships that weren't bombed.

"Whoa…" Wally said as the team stared at the destruction their teammate wrought, watching as he leapt up and punched one ship down, swinging to another with a whip and using a sword to cut the engines off. Nearby the tanks fired, sending multiple missiles into the ships.

"Let's go!" Aqualad said leading them inside. "We can all Zeta to the cave. If you can grant us computer clearance."

"I can only authorize one at a time," Manhunter replied.

"Then we'll send the soldiers first," Aqualad said.

"Belay that! You're all assests we cannot afford to lose!" Generald Ely snapped.

"Override. Martain Manhunter—07."

"Recognized. Access granted…Miss Martian—B08…Robin—B01…Kid Flash—B04…"

The wall caved in and Bumblebee stumbled to his feet, his mask gone, revealing a set of fangs set in a snarl, a bit of his glowing, blue blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. Aqualad tossed KF through the portal before he could do anything as the Cybertronian and soldiers continued to distract the aliens. Bumblebee lifted a rock off one guy's leg, allowing Superboy to grab the injured soldier. Hurling the rock it's sheer size allowed it to rip through two ships.

"He goes next," Superboy said.

"Fine, then you," Aqualad said.

"Private Jason Barnes USMC."

"Thanks Superman," he said stumbling through the portal.

"Superboy—B09," the computer said as Superboy looked back to see 'Bee hurl his sword through one ship as it fired its beam at him, finally taking down the scout. Gulping he jumped through, hoping Aqualad and Manhunter weren't far behind.

"They need you more than me! Go!" Aqualad said tossing Manhunter through the portal as the shot rate from the enemy spiked as Bumblebee was no longer there to draw their fire.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"Our next mission is clear, if we believe the aliens are teleporting their victims—" Robin began.

"We do," Wally interrupted.

"Then the only reasonable detention facility is here," Robin said pulling up the image, "their mothership. On top of what used to be Smallville. Ring any bells?"

"No, I'm sorry," Manhunter replied.

"Superboy, you'll do what Bumblebee did, be the distraction so the rest of us can get inside," Robin said.

"No! He's offering you as a sacrifice! Aqualad would never do that!" Miss M protested.

"No. Aqualad would sacrifice himself," Robin said. "A mistake that just cost us our leader and our most experienced player in the terms or warfare! Bumblebee is right! We must continue the mission at all costs, no matter what happens. Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

"Worst case he's teleported inside, and we set him free along with Artemis, Emerald, and everyone else," Wally added.

 _"_ _It's ok Megan, it's what Superman would do,"_ he consouled.

-.-

"The one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope," Miss M said as they broadcasted throughout the world.

"Hope survives as long as even one of us is willing to fight!" Superboy said.

"It doesn matter how many fall, for new heroes will always rise to take their place," Kid Flash said. "Bringing all their resources, their ideas, their skills, their talents to help defeat the enemy."

"The people of Earth will survive this, we rebuild and we will thrive! Never doubt, never give in, and never forget the Earth will never surrender!" Robin said.

-.-

Smallville

"Stay close to J'ohn," Robin said as M'gann walked up. "He's still a little off." She nodded. "First team! Deploy!"

Miss Martain and Martian Manhunter flew up in camouflage mode, density shifting through the walls to get inside. _"Ready and in position,"_ M'gann informed. _"Be careful Conner. I love you."_

Robin nodded to Superboy and he leapt out with a battel cry, landing on the ship, ripping out cannons as he went. "ALRIGHT YOU GLOFIED TRESPASSERS! WANNA SEE HOW A REAL ALIEN DOES IT?!" he shouted the cannon he was holding fired, taking out several more cannons he aimed it at. The docking bay opened the ships began to pour out. _"Now or never!"_

Robin rode on KF's back as he raced into the ship. Hiding behind a column they looked to see a robot drone fly by. _"You've gotta be kidding me,"_ Wally groaned. _"Of course, we realize all the aliens are tech when out tech powerhouse gets himself teleported!"_

One flew up behind them, and prepared to fire only to be telekinetically crushed as the Martians flew over.

Outside Superboy was starting to tire from holding the heavy cannon, one shot got lucky, hitting the cannon and knocking him back, before another beam hit him from behind.

Miss Martian stumbled and grabbed her head in pain. _"No…he's gone!_ " she said collapsing to her knees.

 _"_ _Don't worry! We'll find him with Artemis and Em, you'll see,"_ Wally consoled.

 _"_ _No. My mind is clearer now, the disintegration beam is just that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue, our mission hold no purpose,"_ Manhunter stated.

 _"_ _NO! You're wrong! The Zeta radiation proves they're alive! They're—!"_

 _"_ _Stop it KF!"_ Robin snapped grabbing him. _"I've been scanning for League, Team, and Autobot signals since we got here, they aren't here. Emerald and Artemis are gone. But our mission still holds a purpose, to destroy this mothership."_ They began on their way, running for the powersource. _"This is it! Blow this and the whole ship goes!"_ Robin and Kid leapt onto another platform, starting to feel the gravity coming from it trying to pull them in. as their grip slipped they grabbed on another ledge, and Robin released the bombs he had on him onto the ground. Miss M lowered them to the core allowing them to set the bombs.

 _"_ _You knew, you knew from the beginning why we were really here,"_ Wally realized.

 _"_ _I knew from the moment we lost the Bioship. Four minutes, lets go."_

Racing for the doors they stopped to see that they locked down and that they had aleans coming at them from behind. _"Perfect."_

Dodging behind a wall, Robin looked at his watch. _"Sixteen seconds and counting. Manhunter, take Miss Martian and get out of here!"_

 _"_ _No! We aren't leaving you!"_

 _"_ _That's an order!"_ Robin said. _"We'll fallow as soon as we blow those doors."_

The two left and they looked at the clock that was getting into the final ten seconds. "Till all are one," Robin quoted the Autobot motto, Wally nodded and both ran out to engage the enemy as the ship exploded.

 _"_ _Don't,"_ M'gann said. _"Don't tell me the mission was a success. The price was too high."_ A shadow passed over them and Megan looked up to her horror to see another mothership had arrived. _"No, no, no, no, no! we have to get out of here! Now!"_

 _"_ _No, we have to end this,"_ Manhunter replied before shoving his fist straight through her abdomen.

-.-

The teens sat up with gasps and groans. Wally was leaning heavily of Captain Marvel, Aqualad was lying down with his head to his fist. Conner was petting Wold and Erica was trying not to get smothered by Moonknight. Artemis was being helped up by Red Tornado. Robin was sitting on the edge of his bench, sweat running down his face. Bumblebee sat silently, looking down at the ground, Starburst nudging his hand trying to get his attention.

"You're all alive!" M'gann exclaimed.

"What happened in there?" Optimus asked as Manhunter leaned against him for support.

"The exercise…it all went wrong."

"Exercise?" Robin asked.

"Try to remember," Batman encouraged. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked you all in an artificial reality. You all knew it going in. what you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to get worse. Still you were aware, nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf, Moonknight, and Starburst were killed before your eyes," Manhunter said. "But all that changed when Artemis and Emerald died. Though consciously Miss Martian was aware that it wasn't real, her subconscious could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only a simulation, and her subconscious took over, making all of you forget as well."

"I…I'm so, so sorry!" she said.

"This isn't her fault! Why didn't you stop the exercise?" Conner asked.

"We tried, but M'gann had…a deathgrip on it. Even Artimes and Erica who should've awakened upon their deaths, were so convinced that they had passed, slipped into a coma. I realized that I would have to take control from within, but upon my arrival, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly…to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped. But it was only once Kid Flash and Robin were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember why I was there: to shock M'gann out of the exercise. Before your comas became permanent. My apologizes, I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous…so damaging…"

They looked at M'gann who was crying into Arcee's shoulder. Emerald glanced at Bumblebee who hadn't even twitched throughout the explanation, he just continued looking down at the floor, ignoring Starburst's worried whines.

"As bad as all that?" Batman asked.

"Perhaps worse."

"Yet this isn't what troubles you," Optimus frowned.

"Make no mistake, my niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this…for our debacle."

"No one blames her, but clearly we underestimated her abilities," Red Tornado said.

"You understated. In terms of raw power there is only one person whose mind I've encountered is stronger than hers and that is Soundwave."


	30. Traumatized

Chapter 29

 **A/N: I just own this story. Emerald is my friend's OC, whom she let me borrow. And the characters aren't mine…sadly.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy/flashbacks_**

 ** _"_** ** _Voice synthesizers"_**

Oct 21, Mt. Justice

The team sat silently in the living room of the cave. Megan stood cooking something, Wally was sitting at the table looking down. Erica was lying against Moonknight on the ground writing in her journal. Robin and Artemis sat on the couches looking down, Kaldur sitting on a chair nearby. No one was speaking.

Down in the gym, Bumblebee wasin his armor taking out his frustraition on the unfortunate punching bags and practice drones that got his attention; Starburst contentedly curled up on the balance beam ignoring his master's ruckus.

-.-

"Recognized: Batman—02."

"How are they?" Batman asked.

"I am still shaken by what we wrought," Manhunter said, "one can only imagine how these youths fare."

"I know our virtual reality training went badly, but I was hoping the team would rally by now," he sighed.

"Trauma lingers Bruce," Optimus said. "And sometimes it never goes away. Black Canary has her work cut out for her."

-.-

"I can only imagine, how devistaing it was, losing your friends, your family, convinced the whole time it was all real," Canary said as Conner glowered in front of her. "I'm sure it must've been horrible for you." Superboy didn't respond. "I understand, you're Superboy, you'r not supposed to have feelings of sadness or vulnerability."

"You don't know how I feel!" he snapped getting up and walking out.

"Conner!"

"Just leave me alone!"

-.-

Metropolis

In a park a golden portal opened up and a flying car flew out, holding five people.

"Here' haja!"

"Na! Nos kemp nos danja da!"

One in green armor held up a small box and it blinked.

"When can we see some cowboys?!" one asked.

"Your obsession with the barbarians must wait Seraphan. Mother Box, please camouflage all extra-terrestrial signatures, scan, and advise." The box beeped. "What we seek is on world."

"The New Genesphere is on Earth!" the girl said.

"Then we shall take her back! The Forever people will not be denied! And woe to any who stand in our way."

-.-

Cave

Superboy stormed down the hall only to balk as a punching bag flew out of the gym and into the wall. _"Done with the shrink already?"_ 'Bee asked coming out.

"What's it to you!?"

Bumblebee just looked down and shrugged, grabbing the punching bag and hurling it back into the almost destroyed room, before walking alongside the Kryptonian.

"Why are you following me!? I don't need a babysitter!" Conner growled.

Bumblebee grabbed his shoulder, and narrowed his eyes. _"Look, I ain't here to babysit ya. I just need to get out of here before Canary tries to get me to 'talk about my pain' or whatever scrap she's tellin' us. I don't do shrinks,"_ he growled heading for the garage.

"So you don't like talking about it either," Conner realized.

 _"_ _I prefer to handle it on my own,"_ he stated coldly as they hopped on a pair of motorcycles.

"Aren't you…?"

 _"_ _Just cause I prefer my car doesn't mean I can't use a bike."_ 'Bee smirked behind his mask and he opened the door. Just as they were about to drive out, Sphere rolled in the way.

"Sphere! Out of the way!"

The giant metal ball was shaking and beeping until it transformed into a bike. _"That's new…and not my fault."_

"Wanna try it out?"

 _"_ _Let's roll out before they realize we're AWOL!"_ 'Bee said as they hopped in, Wolf and Starburst somehow fitting themselves together in the front.

Driving off the bike lifted off the ground and flew away. On the ground Batman, Optimus, and Red Tornado ran to the doors. "Superboy return to cave," Batman said before hearing the echo on the ditched comm on the floor. He was about to call Bumblebee when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Let them go, they need some time to sort things out themselves," Prime said walking back inside.

-.-

"Look, me dying during the exercise might've started things going south, but I was coma-girl," Artemis growled. "Missed all the fun of forgetting it wasn't real, so, no trauma. No need for a shrink."

"You're too tough to need help."

"Whatever."

Canary sighed and put her elbows on her knees. "Or too tough to admit you need help. Artemis, it's not a sign of weakness to open up to your friends."

"I know," she snarled.

"But you still keep secrets."

"YOU WON'T TELL THEM! YOU CAN'T!" she exclaimed.

"I won't, but you should. You should start by admitting you're not really Green Arrow's niece," Canary suggested.

"Yea right," she scoffed. "Can you imagine what Wally would do with that?"

"Interesting, so the person you're most worried about, is Wally?"

Artemis froze and a blush crept on her cheeks.

-.-

Eastern Seaboard

"Let's see what our boy can do!" Superboy said.

 _"_ _Why not?"_

Wolf barked and Starburst hissed in agreement. Going higher they did a few flips and tricks before being stopped by a flying car.

"Return the New Genesphere and the rest of the technology you've stolen from New Genesis humans."

"Who are you?"

"Let's keep this simple! That," he pointed at the bike, "belongs to us! Give it back!"

They got up to fight and 'Bee knelt on the back with his blasters ready. The sphere beeped a few times and the leader stood up. "Forever People, stand down! They did not steal the New Genesphere, they saved it from the real thieves!"

"Apologizes, the Forever People embrace you as friends, allies, and worthy warriors!" the big one smiled.

"You've got to be kidding me," Superboy grumbled.

 _"_ _I swear I've heard of these people from somewhere,"_ 'Bee said sitting on the back scratching his head.

-.-

Cave

"I'm the General, but behanved like a soldier and sacrified myself, I am not fit for command," Kaldur said. "I must resign as team leader."

"Who do you recommend to take your place?" Canary asked.

"Artemis is too raw and untrusting. Kid Flash too impulsive and rash. Miss Martian remains too eager to please. Superboy carries too much anger."

"Leaving only three options," Canary said. "Bumblebee, Robin, and Emerald Lantern."

"But Robin is too young!"

"Kaldur, you're all young," Canary said.

"I cannot shift this burden to him."

"Then what about Emerald and Bumblebee?" she asked.

"Emerald is like Wally sometimes, she can be brash and impulsive, she lets her emotions control her. And with her being a Lantern, she would not always be there," he said. "And Bumblebee…during the simulation he took command when I could not, he put things to us as it was and did not sugar-coat anything, putting the mission back on track. He would be the next logical choice with all his experience, but with him being so involved with the Autobots and us, I fear he would not always be there when the team would need it…"

"And?"

"He was too cold, too precise, too harsh, it was like he didn't care what happened to us, just as long as the mission was completed. It was like…he had no emotions," Kaldur sighed. "I was afraid of what he might do, of what he was—is capabale of, seeing how he wiped out a large portion of the attacking fleet by himself…Seems I will have to withdraw my resignation."

-.-

Seaboard

"Forever People?" Superboy asked.

"We are young gods, new gods."

"There's only one God," 'Bee mumbled under his breath, he didn't like starting religious aruments, but people who called themselves gods were the ones he personally wanted to hurl into a smlting pit.

"They call me Seraphin," the one dressed like a cowboy said tipping his hat.

"I'm Dreamer, this is Moonflight, and our leader Vikin," she introduced.

"I am named for an animal that does not exist on this world, so you may call me Wolf."

"That's Wolf," Conner said as Wolf growled.

"Oh, Bear then, Bear is even better."

"I'm Superboy, and the quiet guy behind me is Bumblebee." Starburst hissed. "And that's Starburst."

"This is Mother Box the living computer," Vikin said.

 _"_ _That is not a living computer, I'm a living computer,"_ 'Bee said.

"Please, the only way to be a livin' computer is to be a Cybertronian!" Seraphin laughed and 'Bee just looked at him. "Wait…you're a…?"

 _"_ _Yep."_

"The gods of old," Bear said as they stared.

"Mother Box has tracked our stolen rescue drill here," Vikin said as they stopped over an old construction site. "It is beneath us."

"That's a construction site," Conner sighed.

 _"_ _Perfect cover for illeagal drilling, especially when the federal reserve is right across the street,"_ 'Bee said and they got stupid looks from the off-worlders. _"People keep money there."_

"It's a heist," Seraphin said grabbing his guns. "C'mon partners let's ride in there guns blazin' and round up them outlaws!"

"He's watched a lot of Earth Westerns," Dreamer said.

 _"_ _Don't worry 'bout it, so 've I."_

"Yea, well, there's a time to go in strong, and a time to go in smart," Superboy said.

 _"_ _I see the extra lessons with Arcee and Canary have been paying off,"_ 'Bee grinned.

"Shut up."

"It is your world, we shall fallow your lead," Vikin said.

"Smart entrance?"

 _"_ _Smart entrance."_

-.-

Cave

"And how are you coping with this Erica?" Canary asked looking at the girl who was fiddling with her ring.

"To tell the truth, not well," she sighed. "Sure I was the second to die, and that wasn't long after M'gann made us forget it was all fake, and was basically out through most of it, but when Artemis died. I felt awful, I couldn't believe that in those short moments that I lost all my family and one of my friends...and now that I know it's a simulation, I'm not sure what to think or feel."

"Erica, you're in shock, it's not surprising," Canary said. "I'm sure they'll think no less of you."

"But…"

Canary reached across and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"I know…the others told me…"

"You seem worried?"

"How can I not be?" she sighed. "Anyways…there's something else…you promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Nothing said in here leaves this room," Canary confirmed.

"It's about what Kent Nelson told me before he died…"

-.-

"Norman!"

The group of thugs turned aiming their weapons as an older woman walked over with a jacket. "Mom!" one exclaimed as they lowered their guns. "What are you doing here?" The two guys behind him were zapped to the ground. "Mom get down! It's not…safe?" He said as the image of his mother faded away to reveal Dreamer.

Vikin used his magnetic abilities to use the gun to knock the guy out. Bumblebee, Bear, Superboy, Wolf, and Starburst jumped into the hole, landing on some of the guys down at the bottom. Bumblebee and Suerboy went ahead and checked around the corners as the rest hopped down. Putting a finger to their lips they ran inside.

"Well Ugly, the old creeps gear performed as advertised," a red-headed woman sneered.

"Yea Whisper, this gave me a bigger score than anything else in Intergang has," a man wearing a black and red box on his back.

"Wait!" Superboy whisper-yelled as Vikin strode past them towards the group.

 _"_ _By the All-Spark, this idiot is going to get us all killed!"_

"That drill and these carts are the property of New Genesis. You will return them, now!"

"Gold goes back too!" Superboy said.

"Interefere and things get ugly," Whisper snarled.

"I'm Ugly," the bulky man said as two straps came around the front and a cannon formed in the front. Several disks shot out and 'Bee yanked Superboy and Vikin out of the way, grabbing a disk and hurling it into one of the gang members. Seraphin pulled out his guns and shot down the rest.

More came at them, hitting the different team members as they fought to help each other. "These weapons aren't from New Genesis," Dreamer gasped. "They are from…the enemy."

"What enemy?"

"The enemy, the gods of anti-life, they are of Apocolypse," she shuddered.

 _"_ _Why does that sound so slaggin' familiar?!"_ 'Bee said smacking his forehead on the wall.

-.-

Cave

"So you want me to believe that after everything you went through, including your own death by fiery explosion, you're peachy?" Canary said.

"I'm, uh, fairly certain I've never used the word peachy," Wally said tossing another piece of popcorn into his mouth. "But I think you have the idea."

"So you really have no interest in confronting your extreme reactions to Artemis' and Erica's deaths along with your outburst at Bumblebee?"

Wally sat up, chocking on a piece of popcorn in shock. "Well…what do you expect, Erica is my cousin, of course I'd react extremely over her death."

"And shouting at Bumblebee?"

"He didn't care. She was his best friend and he didn't care that she died! He just kept going with the mission! He outright told us it didn't matter who died as long as it got done!" he snapped. Looking at Canary he froze and put on a smile. "W-Well, enough about me, let's talk about you babe."

"Wally, you're in denial about so many things," she sighed.

"I can live with that."

-.-

Metropolis

Whisper lept forwards swinging her fiery whips which connected with Bumblebee's metal ones. _"Let's dance,"_ he smiled.

"Sorry, you're not my type," she snarled swinging at him again.

"The confines of the space favor their weapons, we must bring this out into the open!" Vikin declared. They made a retreat, Bear vaulting those that could not jump high enough to the top. "I have no wish to prolong this battle."

 _"_ _You call it a battle, I call it a skirmish."_

"Let's finish this," Ugly growled as the drill came up and they walked out of the hole.

"Fear not, she will protect us," Vikin said as Sphere flew overhead firing at them.

"Cool…wait, Sphere's a she?" Conner questioned and his partner just shrugged,

"It's time."

 _"_ _For what?"_

"Taru!" the New Genisians said and they tossed the motherbox up, merging together to become one battle…person…robot?

 _"_ _Huh…you know, that's a first for me,"_ 'Bee said.

It levitated over the quick-sinking mud and used lasers to vaporize the weapons they were using, before sending a sonic wave to blast them back. A boom tube opened and they retreated. "Wait!" Whisper called before Starburst wrapped around her. The being then made another tube that engulfed the drill, and they detatched.

"What was that?" Superboy asked.

"Infinity man," Dreamer informed. "We merged to become part of the source, and greater than the sum of our parts."

 _"_ _Glad none of my teams are that close,"_ 'Bee shivered.

"Lower beings fear intimacy," Bear said. "Well, not the Grand Cybertronians, it was your race ages ago that showed us the closeness of your families by the inticate bonds you share."

 _"_ _You mean sparkbonds…sure they make us close, but they're just meant for marriage and family…not those…outside,"_ 'Bee stated taking a small step away from them.

"Forgive us for our people's misinterpretation," Vikin apologized. "But the question remains, how are Earthlings getting our technology?"

They all looked at the red-headed woman restrained by a snake. "I'm not saying anything," she growled before flinching as Starburst hissed.

"You weren't asked," Dreamer said and a wisp of smoke came from the prisoner's head and the image of a man…who appeared to be extremely misshapen appeared.

 _"_ _Well, that'll haunt me for the rest of my life."_

"De'sod."

"You know, we've been incredibly patient, especially for me, so…What's going on?!" Superboy questioned.

"The gods come from two warring worlds, New Gensis hosts the gods of life, freedom, and source; our enemy, Apocolypse hosts the gods of anti-life, slavery, and degradation," Dreamer stated. "This is De'sod, god scientist and chief torturer of Apocolypse. His experiements are pure evil and works, abominations. His master…"

"Unspeakable," the image said laughing and disappearing.

"He is seriously creepy," the woman shivered.

-.-

Cave

"Hurting? Try traumatized," Robin said. "I finally become leader and I send all my friends to their deaths. I-I know I did what I had to, but I hated it. When the team started, I was desperate to be in charge, but not anymore. A-And that's not even the worst of it…you can't tell Batman."

"Nothing leaves this room," Canary said.

"I always wanted—expected to grow up and become him. And the hero bit, I'm still all in! But, that thing, the thing that drives him to sacrifice everything for the sake of the mission. I don't have it. I don't want to be _the_ Batman anymore."

-.-

Airfeild

"Motherbox says we're close," Vikin said. "There's a large cache of Apocolyptian tehnology inside."

Superboy narrowed his eyes. "Got nothing on infrared."

 _"_ _Remain cautious anyways, there's more than one way to hide one's presence,"_ 'Bee informed before he and his pet vanished. _"Keep yourselves hidden."_

"Still no heat signatures," Superboy said as they walked inside and Dreamer dropped the illusion.

Then the light turned on. "Equipment blocks heat signatures, visor filters out illusions, we got you," Ugly smiled as the fight began.

Up in the rafters 'Bee sighed. Didn't he warn them to keep their guard up?

"These weapons resist my magnetic power," Vikin said. "It is time."

"This won't take long!" Bear called.

"Go!" Superboy said. Where the heck was that stupid scout?

As they combined, one of the men, split in half, revealing a robot with De'sod inside. "Now mortal, deliver the fatherbox," he said handing it to Ugly, who in turn tossed it into the group. Once Infinity Man appeared, he was red and black, not gold and blue.

"Uh oh."

"Kill the boy, and his little dog too," De'sod said.

 _"_ _You did not just quote Scooby Doo incorrectly!"_ 'Bee said dropping down and landing on the scientist.

-.-

"It was all my fault. Hello Megan," she whispered, "who else could take a simple exercise and turn it into a nightmare that terrorizes everyone she cares about."

"You turned white," Canary noticed as the girl's skin tone changed.

"No!" she said shooting to her feet before sighing. "Oh, you mean caucasion. Yea, I'm fine being Megan, but I can't trust myself to use my other powers."

"M'gann, you're a Martian, you refusing to use your abilities is like me refusing to speak. Which I tried for a while after my first Canary Cry almost deafened my entire first grade class. So I get it, but not being yourself is never the answer. The feeling of guilt will go away; learned from what happened. Your uncle would be happy to train you. Just practice till you gain control and regain your confidence."

-.-

 _"_ _Well this is fantastic_ ," 'Bee growled pulling Superboy out of a plane.

"Can't you control it?!"

 _"_ _They're not made of technology! They may look the part, but they're connected through…something. I'm not sure what, and I'm not sure I wanna know"_ he replied ripping off part of a wing and hurling it at Infinity Man, who used his eye lasers to vaporize it. _"Think you can handle it for a moment?"_

"Yea!"

 _"_ _Good! Ratchet! Send my car to my coordinates!"_

Picking up a small car, Superboy tossed it at the being who merely swatted it aside. Sticking his hand out, Infinity Man levitated a nearby plane, slamming it down on the Kryptonian several times before lifting it off and plucking Superboy's unconscious form off the ground.

"Infinity Man is now my…my Master's weapon," De'sod grinned.

"Why doesn't he get it over with already?" Ugly growled.

"I've never been one for getting it over with; fatherbox knows my proclivities," he replied. "Programming Infinity Man accordingly."

The sound of an engine came and they stepped out of the way as a camero sped past them, transforming and slamming into Infinity Man. Superboy fell to the ground, rubbing his head as he saw what looked like a clash ot titians, literally. Bumblebee lifted it and tossed Infinity Man towards the warehouse.

As he got up, Sphere rolled over and changed into…what looked like a massive beetle, locking onto Infinity Man's head and the colors changed back to normal.

"Attack! Attack while you still can!" De'sod snapped, he wasn't expecting an Ancient to intervene, nor was he expecting a way to reverse what was done to Infinity Man.

Starburst shot out of his hiding spot, landing squarely on De'sod's misshapen face making the mad scientist run as he tried to pull the snake off.

Part of Sphere stook up, handles shooting out as she beeped at them. "Sphere you're beautiful!" Conner declared hopping up and getting in the driver's seat.

"OPEN FIRE ALL WEAPONS!" Ugly shouted and 'Bee got in front of Superboy, his armor deflecting the shots.

"Our turn," Superboy grinned as he got a nod from his teammate. Shooting a beam out of the hand, the men were knocked back, as Bumblebee punched the ground, releasing an energon pulse that fried the equipment.

Transforming 'Bee sped towards De'sod as he got the massive snake off and opened a Boomtube. "Sorry young Ancient, but all will suffer!" he declared thowing a bomb and disappearing in the closing portal. Infinity Man shot the bomb mid-air, and the blast forced them to turn back to normal.

Starbust and Wolf went over to the fatherbox and began playing tug-o-war with it.

"She's hurt," Superboy said kneeling next to a broken Sphere.

"The damage may be beyond repair, but motherbox will try," Vikin said placing the box on the bike. The parts began to repair itself and she turned back into a ball. "The healing process has begun, and will be completed on New Genesis."

"Sorry, what?" Superboy growled.

"We thank both of you for your help, but we must take the New Genesphere home now," Dreamer stated.

 _"_ _Who says she wants to?"_ 'Bee asked picking up his pet. _"I've been around her long enough to know she has her own free will. So tell me, why make the choice for her?"_

They flinched and Sphere beeped slowly. "Seems you are right, she does wish to remain," Vikin said.

Bumblebee nodded and walked to his car. With a wave, the car made a sharp spin and spun off into a groundbridge at the end of the runway.

"So why are you so respectful towards him?" Conner asked now his friend was gone.

"Cybertronians are one of the most ancient races there are," Vikin stated. "Ages ago, when our world was young, the Quintessons ruled the galaxy, enslaving the peoples of the worlds they took. Till one day, the reached Cybertron, a planet that was home to race as old as them, but more war-like in nature. They attempted to conquer and enslave them and they succeeded, for a short time. After they assassinated Quintus Prime, his son, Sentinel Prime, led a revolution, and easily forced them off their world, before spreading to the stars. They conquered and defeated the Quintessons easily, rapidly becoming an empire far bigger and stronger than its predecessor."

"The natives of these worlds were considered second-class citizens, but they were never treated as slaves. They were given protection from invaders, religion, and education, learning much under them. But while teaching these things, they never forced them upon us, allowing the people to choose for themselves. Our world was no different. Our abilities intrigued them, and they trained our people in there uses," Dreamer continued, "but then, the Rust Plague came and thousands of those in the colonies began dying. Unrest began to build with the Empire's grand capitol, and an order was issued for all Cybertronains to return to the planet. The worlds they left behind had gained much and were suddenly given the freedom by the Grand Council to govern themselves. Many cultures who refused to accept their religion, saw them instead as gods, which is why we know them as the Ancients, the gods of old. They were the only beings able to fight our oppressors."

"Wow," he said.

"Learn what you can, experience is wisdom," Bear said as they parted ways.

-.-

Cave

"What are you hoping to find?" Martian Manhunter asked as Batman examined Sphere. "Conner has already given its uses and Wally has already dubbed her: the Super Cycle."

"Despite the name, it still requires investigation, as does everything in Superboy's report," Batman replied. "Speaking of where is he now? And where is Bumblebee? He hasn't filed his report."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Arcee said holding a datapad.

-.-

"Here's the ugly truth: I wasn't devastated," he stated. "Even with Superman, Tornado, you, the whole League dead. Even though I didn't save Wolf, Moonknight, and Starburst. Watched Artemis, Emerald, Bumblebee, and Kaldur die. Abandoned M'gann…I felt…at peace. From the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod there's been one thing I've wanted and feared: to know what it is to be Superman. And I knew, so…I was happy. Everyone I care about dead or traumatized and I'm happy. How do I get past the guilt of that? How do I live with myself?"

Canary reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't have any easy answers for that, but I know one thing for certain. Admitting it is the first step."

-.-

Autobot Base

Bumlebee sat quietly on the roof of the base staring up at the quiet night sky, remembering a past he'd rather leave back there.

"I thought I'd find you here," Erica said sitting on the ledge next to him. "How you doing?"

 _"_ _Fantasctic. Nothing like watching people you care about get vaporized right in front of you. Not like I haven't seen it before."_

Erica sighed. "It wasn't your fault."

 _"_ _What? That I let my team die or that I went through with a plan that I knew would kill me so I wouldn't have to suffer the pain of watching my entire team get slaughtered in front of me again?!"_ he snapped. _"…I abandoned them all because I couldn't take the pain."_

"'Bee to be honest, I'm barely keeping myself from going and kicking their butts to Oa and back because they didn't think this could result in trauma…or trigger any already existing trauma," she said pulling him into a hug. When she didn't get a response, she hugged her best friend tighter. "You know, it's ok to show your real emotions, keeping them bottled up like this isn't healthy."

As she said that, he felt his emotional walls brake down and he began crying, releasing the pain he refused to let others see.

 **A/N: I feel like I could've done better on this chapter, but after rewriting it several times I just decided to stick with what I got. Hope y'all have a good week and please review.**


	31. Halloween Fun

Chapter 30

 **A/N: Alright, so this a chapter I made after binge-watching a bunch of Markiplier videos, reading some creepy stories, and playing FNAF (two guesses what I'm doing here)! Don't know why, but I did! Kinda nervous about posting it, but oh well.**

 **I own nothing! Emerald is my friend's OC! I am very sorry for what happens to my mind when I do chapters for Halloween, things get weird.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's speech_**

Central City, Oct 31

Erica sat up in bed with a yawn, before immediately looking to her phone and checking the date. "FINALLY!" she shouted as her Lantern uniform appeared…except it was orange and black. Flying out the window citizens began looking around as random Halloween decorations appeared, as soon fallowed by every single city on the planet.

"Well folks, as you can see here, the infamous Halloween Santa strikes again, hitting here and every city across the world," the news reported.

-.-

Autobot Base

Ratchet got up with a yawn. He had the late shift last night at the hospital, and worked overtime due to a large accident. Turning a corner, he tripped and fell flat on his face. Picking up the culprit he glared at the jack-o-lantern smiling back at him. Looking up he saw the base was completely decorated for the holiday. "Emerald."

-.-

Batcave

Alfred walked down and stopped seeing the numerous decorations covering the vast cave. Sighing he just turned around and went back upstairs, no matter how many times he removed them, they always came back. At this point it was just best to let Emerald do her thing, she'll clean it up later.

-.-

Nemesis

Emerald flew in past startled Vehicons staring at the random decorations that suddenly appeared. Going into Megatron's room she grabbed his armor flew down the hall, glued it to the roof, hiding the rest of his clothes and leaving a Darth Vader costume.

Going to Starscream's room, she flew to New York, dressing some random dress shop's dummy in his armor, and leaving a pink, frilly, sparkly dress, a tiara, and hot pink stilettos in its place. Doing his make-up, she flew out, and went into Arachnid's room, tying a string to one of her legs, which attached to over sixty cans of Raid aimed right at her.

Soundwave looked over at the Lantern as she flew over and placed a party had on his head before flying off. The telepath shrugged, he was putting this on YouTube later anyways.

-.-

Central City

"Ready 'Bee?" Erica asked readjusting the wig to her costume.

 _"_ _Why are you dressed up as Black Canary?"_ 'Bee questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Because it's what the kids wanted," she replied.

 _"_ _Several of the others volunteered to cover for us when we have to leave for that meeting this evening."_

"Great!" she grinned. "Now go hide, I don't want the kids to see you yet!"

Rolling his eyes, her friend took off, leaving Erica to go through the door where several excited kids were waiting for her. "Erica! You came!" a small girl in a wheelchair exclaimed happily.

"Since when have I been one to break promises?" she laughed ruffling the girl's hair. "Unfortunately, Jordan, I'm not going to be able to stay all night since my work has a meeting, however I do have a few surprises to make up for it." Pulling the bags she had off her shoulders, and looked at the several kids. "So, who wants to help me pass out candy and be the Justice League?"

They were all cheering and pointing at themselves, making the redhead smile. "Great, each of you take a bag. Now before we start I'd like you all to meet your first surprise. Come on out!"

A ceiling tile moved above the kids and 'Bee popped out. _"Hi everyone!"_ Several squealed in surprise before looking up and grinning as the Autobot hopped down. _"Geez, there are so many members of the League here, how am I to tell who is the real one?"_

"We're not the real ones!" one of the kids said with a laugh.

 _"_ _No? Really? I could've sworn you were the real Justice League."_

"Nope!"

"How long are you going to be staying?!" another kid blurted.

 _"_ _Well, I'm going to have to make sure that Black Canary there gets to her big meeting,"_ 'Bee replied before doing a fake whisper. _"I think we all know the trouble she gets herself into on her own."_

The kids all nodded and laughed as Erica fake pouted. "Well everyone! Who's ready to start passing out candy?"

They all cheered and before long the group was going room to room, giving candy and gifts to the kids who couldn't get out of bed. Many were also taking pictures with the youngest Autobot, who proved to have a very dramatic flare for the kids dressed as villians when they pretended to defeat him.

Erica smiled as she watched, she and her mother used to volunteer here all the time, but after…the incident, she wasn't able to come as often as she wanted. She heard a loud beep from 'Bee's comm from where he was lying on the floor with a little girl dressed as Poison Ivy on his chest and several other kids dressed as villians standing over him. "Are you dead?"

He lied still for a few moments before popping up, making them all laugh in surprise. _"Nope!"_ Sitting up he tapped his comm and grinned behind his mask. _"Alright, let me up. Hey everyone! The next surprise Erica has for you is here, and I have to say, they all sound very excited to come visit all of you! So if you turn your attention to the front door!"_

He motioned dramatically towards the door where Black Canary, Hal, Bulkhead, Green Arrow, Arcee, Flash, and Superman walked in.

 _"_ _So kids, before we go, I have a quick question: which Black Canary is cooler?"_ He stood next to the real BC. _"This one or,"_ he jogged over next to Erica, _"this one?"_

"The first one!" one kid shouted.

"Traitor," Erica muttered, however she had a huge grin on her face.

"You're the best Ercia!" a boy battling lung cancer said.

"Thank you, Tanner, now, we're going to leave you in the very capable hands of the Justice League and I promise we'll visit again soon," she smiled.

He looked up and 'Bee who gave him a thumb's up from where he was before turning to talk with some kids who were tapping his arm.

"Nice costume," Black Canary said as she and the other heroes walked by.

"Thanks, and thank you all for coming, you have no idea how much this means for them."

"It's no problem, we're happy to do this," Arcee smiled as a girl dressed up like her sat on her shoulders.

With a final smile, she walked towards 'Bee who was talking in sign language to a group of kids, luckily she learned some so she could understand the conversation.

 _"_ _You know sign langague?"_ one asked in shock.

 _"_ _Yep."_

 _"_ _How? Not many people bother to learn it,"_ another questioned in awe.

 _"_ _Ok, you promise to keep this a secret just between all of us?"_

The small group all nodded excitedly.

 _"_ _Because, I'm just like you. I'm also mute, I only have a device in my armor I use to give me the appearance that I can speak."_

 _"…_ _Really?"_

'Bee nodded, and Erica could tell he had a real smile behind his mask, not just one of the ones he faked to keep up his normal façade.

 _"_ _Do you plan out everything you say before you go out?"_

'Bee chuckled and shook his head. _"They're just recordings I borrow."_

 _"_ _That is so cool!"_

 _"_ _When I grow up I want to be just like you!"_

Bumblebee stood up and ruffled his hair. _"You do that, I promise I'll try and visit again soon."_

 _"_ _Thank you!"_

 _"_ _No problem,"_ he smiled walking towards her. _"Ready to go?"_

"Not like you to reveal secrets," she snorted as he blushed in embarrassment, he forgot she knew sign language.

 _"_ _Yea, well…I know how difficult it can be not being heard all the time."_

"Just when I convince myself I am a soulless redhead you say something like that and make me feel it again," she grumbled once they got into the elevator.

 _"_ _Soulless huh? Well, a soulless redhead wouldn't bring me and several other heroes to see kids now would they?"_ he added and she could tell he was smirking.

"You're insufferable."

 _"_ _You're the one who chose to be my best friend remember?"_

"Ok dork, I'll give you that one."

-.-

Cave

"Computer secure room," Batman said.

"Secure."

"Do we believe there is a mole within the team?" Batman asked.

"I am convinced there is none," Aqualad answered.

"Sportsmaster could've been using his claim to drive the team apart," Emerald stated.

"His claim could've easily come by comparing notes with the other guys in the Injustice League," Robin said.

 _"_ _Besides, if anyone was working with them, they would've betrayed us as soon as we fought against them,"_ 'Bee stated.

"I'm not convinced," Red Arrow replied. "Sure you four and Kid Flash are above suspiscion, but I know Artemis isn't shooting straight. For starters, she's not Green Arrow's niece."

"Yea, she's actually related to—ow!" Robin stopped as Bumblebee and Emerald elbowed him.

"Artemis' relations may indeed make her a suspect, but she's still entitled to a secret identity," Optimus said giving a warning look to Roy. "Who I'm concerned about is Superboy. We still don't know all that Cadmus programmed into him. Conner could very well be the mole, but is not consciously aware of it."

"What about Miss Martian? She is Manhunter's niece, but he told Black Canary he has a few hundred nieces and nephews. And the first time he met M'gann was five months ago," Red Arrow added, "when she stowed away on his last trip from Mars to Earth."

"This changes nothing, I have fought side by side with these people, none are traitors," Aqualad said.

Bumblebee chuckled. _"Geez Roy, with the way you're pushing this on other people, I'd say you were the traitor."_

Roy just stared at them as his friends laughed.

-.-

"GUYS!" Emerald shouted flying after vanishing for an hour, probably someone trying to remove her decorations.

"What Corp is that?" Robin asked from where he, Bumblebee, and Roy sat on the couch.

"None! I just figured out how to change my suit in the spirit of Halloween!"

 _"_ _Why am I not surprised?"_ 'Bee asked raising an eyebrow as he deactivated the datapad he was filing a mission report on. _"So I know you've managed to decorate here, the Watchtower, my base, as well as every single city on the planet in the matter of 6 hours. So tell me: is there anyone who managed to escape your wrath?"_

"Of course not! Not even Megatron and his warship were safe from me!"

"How—?"

"No clue! But anyways, where's everyone else?! Because I know of this awesomely creepy place we could go for Halloween!" she said.

"Wally, Megan, Conner, and Kaldur are at the Happy Harbor High School Halloween dance; and Artemis and Zatanna took off a while ago to get some extra patrolling in. Just not sure where though," Robin answered.

"Ok then! We can just go with the four of us!" she said with a wide grin.

"Where is this place exactly?" Red Arrow asked as he got to his feet.

"It's in Jasper," Erica replied.

 _"_ _Great, home turf,"_ Bumblebee said stretching. _"We can just bridge into base, stop and get my car, and then I can drive us to wherever you're taking us."_

"By the way, where are you taking us?" Robin asked as 'Bee commed for a bridge. The swirling portal appeared and they made their way through; Ratchet sat on his monitor typing away angrily giving Erica a silent threat as the teens chuckled at the fully-decorated base, and Optimus was nowhere to be found. "Have we heard of it?"

"Possibly," she smirked. "Ever hear of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria?"

 _"_ _Really? You really go there now?! Last time we were there, we were on the other side of the street in my car, driving by when you suddenly ducked and hid under the glove compartment! And it was sunny and seventy-five outside!_ " 'Bee growled as he started the engine and drove out of the base.

"Seriously?" Roy scoffed as he and Robin snickered in the backseat.

"It wasn't Halloween at the time!" she retorted, flushing in embarrassment. "My ring goes off every time I'm near it."

"And now that it is you're perfectly fine with going inside at night?!" Robin asked.

"Yep!" she said attempting to give directions to 'Bee who just waved her off and continued driving through the city he had memorized the entire schematics for.

 _"_ _Here we are,"_ he said parking the car in a nearby alley. Getting out of the car they walked across the street towards the run down, boarded up building with old posters hanging in the window with words promising fun times too faded to read. They went up to the door, and Robin pulled out his lock picks when 'Bee just flicked his wrist and the door opened. _"Electronic locks. This place was pretty advanced back in the day; before the disappearances started that is."_

"Disappearances?" Roy scoffed; leave it to Bumblebee to tell a spooky story when they were walking into an abandoned children's building that was creepy as pit from the flickering lights, old posters, and creepy sounds going off around them.

Between him and Erica, those two were the ones whose stories gave you nightmares for weeks afterwards; only because you never know how many of the details of the story were made up and how much of it was true.

 _"_ _Yea, it was all over the news. A few years after it reopened five kids were confirmed murdered—though there is rumor of an unconfirmed sixth—the main suspect of the case was a security guard of the graveyard shift that dressed in one of the empty Fredbear suits, but due to the fact the bodies were never found and the arrested suspect never confessed no one knows,"_ 'Bee said ominously and even Emerald felt a few chills go up her spine. _"But then a few years later all the security guards that worked the midnight to six shift started to go missing. Freddy's was hiring a new one almost weekly because they either quit or just vanished without a trace. Some say it's the real murderer; others say it's…something else. And then things began to go wrong with the animatronics, so they closed down."_

"Oh…" Robin said quietly.

"Blah, blah, blah," Erica groaned. "Too much chatter! I'm going to look around!" She ran off down a random hall to go explore. Roy and Robin shrugged going to look around themselves as 'Bee opened the door to start looking around Pirate's Cove.

Robin and Roy walked into the main area where the slowly rusting and breaking Bonnie, Freddy, and Chika stood. "This is a room of nightmares," Robin said immediately turning around as Roy grabbed his cape and yanked him back in.

"Come on, you've faced Joker and you're scared of three little broken-down animatronics?" Red Arrow chuckled as the thirteen-year-old hid behind him. He turned on his light and noticed a foul odor, the pitch-black eyes, and something dark dripping out of the mouths. "Ok, maybe you're right!" Both quickly turned and sprinted from the room looking for either Erica or Bumblebee.

Down another hall, Emerald peered into a room full with animatronic heads, as well as a few tables where it looked like the animatronics were put when they needed to be stored or repaired. Using her ring like a light she noticed there were lots of dark stains covering the floor, some of the walls, and even on the tables and a few of the heads. "…'Bee! Do you think you could come down here?" she called peering down the hall.

A few moments later she heard the sound of his armor clinking against the metal floors eerily, followed shortly by the bright blue glow of his eyes appearing at the end of the hall. _"What is it?"_ he asked peering in. He activated the lights on the front of his armor and looked around. Deactivating his headlights, he pulled a black light out of his subspace and the room was practically glowing. _"I see…go find Robin and Red Arrow. Make sure they don't come in here, I need to figure out what happened."_

"Hey guys, what's—uh…what happened here?!" Roy asked feeling slightly sick as he realized Bumblebee's story might've been true after all.

 _"_ _No clue, but y'all can keep looking around the rest of the building. Let me know if you find anything else,"_ he said as he pulled out a small kit, making them wonder just where he was holding that.

"Well…then you might want to check the main room, it looked like they were leaking," Roy said as he eagerly stepped out of the glowing room.

Emerald dragged the other out and into one of the hallways. "Can we go?" Robin whined, he could withstand gore on a daily basis cause of his work in Gotham; but Batman didn't let him work on some cases, and those were usually the ones that involved kids, peadophiles, or serial killers—probably of his infamous, protective DaddyBats mode (as others call it, none ever to his face) that made even Joker run the other way—either way cases like that made him feel a little nauseous.

"No! Y'all need to stay here with 'Bee, while I start taking down the decorations! It is almost midnight after all!" she said before flying off.

"But Em—and she's gone," Roy said as the orange and black blur took off.

"Hey, she isn't here now to keep us here," Robin pointed out as he peered back into the main room…only now it seemed that the animatronics were now staring at them. Were they doing that before?

"True, but what about 'Bee?" Red Arrow asked.

"He's a Cybertronian, he can handle himself," Robin called as he sprinted away as fast as his legs could carry him. After standing there for a moment, Roy shrugged and ran out after the Boy Wonder; he wasn't going to stay longer than necessary.

Back in the store room, Bumblebee sat taking samples of the different spatter patterns around the room; which some turned out to be on the roof. After making sure the samples were secured in his subspace, he began taking pictures of the black light room. Noticing some light coming from inside a few of the spare suits and heads, he went over and opened one, only to jump back as a crumpled decomposing corpse in the shredded remains of a security guard uniform fell out.

 _"_ _Guess I know what happened to the security guards…why did the police never check here? And who shoves someone in a mechanical suit in the first place?!"_ he said kneeling down to examine it closer, luckily the others left the room otherwise one might be puking; if not from the sight, then the stench. Sighing he took a few more pictures of the bodies as he opened more of the head and spare animatronics; he even had to try to reassemble the dismembered ones—hopefully he got the body parts right—as he found them. _"One,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight,nine…nine bodies, but ten missing guards…and where are the kids?"_

He turned and saw that the glow from his black light revealed a trail going out into the hall. Picking it up he followed the trail to an office near the middle of the small pizzeria. A small laptop sat on a chair, there was a door on either side with a light button and a close button, a power monitor (weird) and to top it all off the place light up like a Christmas tree.

 _"_ _Great, guess I found where they died,"_ 'Bee grumbled snapping a few more pictures. Putting the camera away he snatched up the laptop. After a few frustrating minutes of pressing the on button, using his technopathic abilities, and smacking it, the computer finally turned on. _"Wow…I didn't think that would work."_

He flipped through the different security feeds, finding the many different rooms. The "corpse room" as he so eloquently dubbed it was clear, Robin and Roy weren't kidding about something leaking from the old animatronics—probably oil—the halls were clear, and he swung back to Pirate Cove after it looked like the curtain moved. Closing the laptop, he turned on the lights, which turned out to deactivate after you release the button, and then pressed the door buttons which held the door down as long as necessary. Opening the doors he looked at the power monitor which had the decreasing levels of power, apparently everything he did with the security cameras, lights, and doors took power from the limited supply.

 _"_ _What moron designs something like this?"_ he muttered before his comm rang, making him jump slightly. _/Sup?/_

/Bumblebee?/ Optimus' both irritated and concerned voice came over. /Where are you?/

 _/Just stumbled across a case in some place Em dragged RA, Rob, and I to. I think they're still wondering around here somewhere—what time is it?/_

/Eleven-fifty-five/

 _/Well then she's probably cleaning up all her decorations; and I haven't heard any whining from Robin in a while so I assume Red either knocked him out, tied him up, is trying to dispose of the body, or they left/_

/What's the case?/

 _/Just an old cold case I've been looking into recently that has a few new leads/_ he answered honestly; this case had confused him for the longest time, and still is.

/Need any help?/

 _/Nah, I can handle it/_

/…Alright, just don't stay out too late/

 _/Dad, it's Saturday, besides the team's hosting a horror movie marathon tonight/_

/I know, but I j—rry—'Bee? You're br—ing up—…/

 _/Dad? …Dad?/_ Bumblebee raised an eyebrow and shrugged as all he got was static. Wouldn't surprise him if this was one of Emerald's and Robin's pranks to try to make Optimus panic. They were determined to get some sort of emotion from him in any way, shape, or form.

A loud clang sounded throughout the building, and 'Bee looked out into the halls as a sadly very familiar bad feeling he always got before something went seriously wrong settled in his gut. Going back to the cameras, he blinked as he saw the heads—and even the corpses—staring at the cameras (creepy), no activity in Pirate's Cove, Bonnie was missing from the main trio—Wait…what?

Flipping back he felt some of his energon chill at the sight of the missing bunny. Flipping through the cameras he spotted her…him…it? out in the hall not very far from the office he was in. Closing the laptop he poked his out and there he was staring right at him with glowing red eyes.

 _"…_ _hi?"_ he said with a slight wave. The bunny just kept staring, but he noticed that it's head tilted slightly. _"Ok…nice chat…"_ He turned to go back in when he suddenly turned back holding his black light. _"You wouldn't happen to…"_ The bunny was glowing…or at least it's hand's, face, and other assorted joints were; as well as the stuff Roy said was leaking out of it. Putting the light away, he closed the door and checked on the other seeing the chicken—duck? It looks like a duck—at the window he slammed the door shut knowing that it would no doubt also light up like Emerald did around Halloween.

Sitting down in the chair he shifted through the cameras only to jump as he saw the bear staring at the camera, the duck-chicken was outside the bathrooms (did it have to go or something?) and the curtain moved to reveal the fox hidden mostly in the shadows minus it's demonic eyes.

 _"_ _Well this is fan-fragging-tastic!"_ Bumblebee huffed as he flopped down in the chair. Going through the cameras he saw that the fox had moved, Freddy was still there, and the chicken was nowhere to be found. Turning on his door light he saw the yellow aft staring right at him. Slamming the door shut, he opened the other door to see the bunny was still there and closed the door. _"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! IT'S ONLY TWELVE-FOURTY-FIVE! AND I'M AT EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT POWER!"_

He turned and checked the light again to see that Bonnie the jerk Bunny was still outside the door, but the chicken was gone. He opened the door and looked at the cameras to see that Freddy was gone, flipping through the cams rapidly he saw that the slagger was staring through a camera in the hall just outside his door. He popped his head outside and saw the bear turn to look at him slowly.

 _"_ _Pit no!"_ he said slamming the door. He jumped as loud banging sounded on his door and he saw the fox running back to its area. _"I hate this place!"_

Sighing he leaned back, but noticed a flickering light on the old phone. Pressing it a recording began to play.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"Is everyone ready for a horror movie marathon?!" Erica asked holding several movies in each hand.

"Where's 'Bee?" Artemis asked.

"He has a case. He'll either show up later or go home," Robin replied.

"So how was your patrol?" Wally asked munching on a candy bar.

"Crazy," Zatanna groaned. "We were chased all over the city by the psychopath named Harm!"

"And he spoke in third person the entire time!" Artemis exclaimed.

"So what happened?" Erica asked.

"Well, he had this sword that you had to be 'pure of heart' for. Turns out his heart was pure evil, so he was able to use it," Zatanna explained. "Anyways, there was this girl dressed in white and all she'd say was 'secret.' She led us away from Harm, but led us to his house!"

"So he caught us, tied us up—you know the usual," Artemis added.

"Secret ended up undo my bonds, turns out she was related to the monster."

"She took us to the backyard where her grave was at! She was a ghost! A real actual ghost! Harm murdered his own sister!" Artemis growled.

"Anyways, with Greta's help we managed to defeat Harm, got him arrested, and now Greta's body is being moved to a proper grave," Zatanna said. "She can finally rest in peace."

"Wait…you're telling me you saw an actual ghost, and you didn't call me?!" Erica whined actually looking like she was about to cry.

"Sorry," they said.

"It's ok! By the sounds of it y'all were too busy with that weirdo to worry about that anyways!" she said with a grin.

"So how was that place you wanted to take us to?" Wally asked.

"Creepy as the pit," Robin shuddered.

"It was like walking straight into a scene out of a horror movie," Roy agreed. "That's actually where 'Bee is working on the case after someone discovered blood, Emerald!"

"Why blame me?" she said.

"Because you brought us to a place where people basically walk in and they don't come out!" Robin protested.

"Ok, ok, maybe I deserve that," she shrugged as she put a movie in. "But we can discuss the place later, right now, it's movie time!"

-.-

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria

 _"_ _Great, just great. So basic note is don't let them catch me. And I'm stuck here till six! So if these slagheaps don't kill me Dad will!"_

Going to the cameras again he saw Foxy staring out of his curtains, Bonnie had moved out into the hall, Chika was back at the bathrooms, and Freddy was still being an aft at his camera. Closing the computer he jumped as a Golden Freddy was slumped in the spare stool with the same stuff leaking out of it before the lights flickered and it was gone.

 _"_ _WHAT IN THE NAME OF UNICRON WAS THAT?!"_ he shouted running out into the halls. Freddy turned and looked at him, and he gave it a glare in return. _"HI!"_ He turned around and walked back in, his power levels were now at fifty-percent and it was only one-thirty. _"I'm done! This is insane! Emerald! I swear if this is some sick prank there'll be so many coffee bags in your room you won't be able to get out of bed!"_

After his angry exclamation, he slumped down his chair. He checked the lights to see both Bonnie and Chika outside the closed doors. Going to the cameras he saw Freddy still outside, staring through the camera demonically, as well as Foxy standing outside his curtain and into the camera.

 _"_ _Guess I'll hide in here till I can—duh! Hello 'Bee!"_ Smacking his forehead, he opened the door and stepped out to face Bonnie.

The bunny looked surprised—if that was possible—cocking its head in confusion. No night guard had ever dared stand up against them, they always ran in fear. The purple man still ran from them when he came to visit to this day. But then again, he did not behave like the purple man, nor did he remotely resemble him. He might be an exoskeleton, but it appears that he's already in a suit, not matter how strange it looks…perhaps he's a new one for the kids, Foxy was always saying he wanted a first mate. It has been so long since they'd seen some other kids to play with. Perhaps he would like to play?

'Bee thrust out a hand, attempting to access the android's systems; the rabbit did respond to his command to back up for a moment, but then—to his shock—it started moving back towards him, as if something else was controlling it. _"Oh pit no!"_ Running back in he willed the door to slam shut behind him. It resisted him, it actually resisted him; tech that old always worked under technopathic control! This was something else; a Class A technopath could override his control, but the only one on Earth was Soundwave and he'd never bother with anything like this.

Going to the camera Bumblebee growled a series of very colorful words in numerous languages as he saw that none had moved; except for the fact Bonnie and Chicka were now standing in his window. And on top of it, it was only two in the morning and his power levels were now at twenty percent due to the consistent use of the doors, lights, and the cameras.

 _"_ _I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead….ok…what will I do when the power goes out? Guess I'll make a break for it, and deal with them as they pop up,"_ he exclaimed. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself down, pushed the chair back, knelt down, closed his eyes, and waited.

Thirty minutes later, the power levels reached the single digits. Taking a deep breath he opened his eyes and stood up just as the lights above him went out, the doors opened, and the music box began to play.

The animatronics looked into the dark security room where they had grabbed the spare exoskeletons so many times before. Except this time it was not a piece that needed to be put in one of the spare suits, but—according to Bonnie—a new animatronic, possibly. This idea was somewhat confirmed as they saw a pair of glowing blue eyes appear in the darkness.

Bumblebee looked as he heard music start to play and the eyes and face of the bear came in the doorway. Seeing his opportunity he charged past the bothersome bear, he could hear clicks and chitters that sounded strangely excited; did they think it was a game? Whipping around a corner he skid to a stop as he saw Golden Freddy, Freddy, and Chika. Turning around he saw Bonnie and Foxy right behind him. _"If you think I'm going to give in like those guards, you're wrong!"_ he snarled getting into a fighting stance.

Golden Freddy shook his head at his friend's stupidity, he was not one of them. But he was no guard. "W-w-who ar-ar-are yo-u-u?" he ground out.

 _"_ _I'm not an exoskeleton if that's what you think, and I'm no security guard either,"_ 'Bee said hoping that it would keep him from getting horribly maimed like those other unfortunate souls he found. _"Just a teenager."_

"N-n-n-not an ad-du-du-dult?"

Bumblebee shook his head, looking behind the animatronics he froze as he saw five small, white figures with tear stained faces standing next to the animatronics; they were children. There was a little girl dressed in a short dress with a bow in her hair, a small boy with Bonnie ears, another boy with a little top hat dressed in yellow, next to him was a boy in a matching hat and had brown ears, and finally was the boy with an eyepatch and hook. He looked at the animatronics then at the kids. _"You…you're them…the kids that went missing,"_ he gasped staring at the ghosts.

The kids stared at him. He could see them? He could actually see them?! When they didn't want to be seen? …Maybe he could help.

"Yea…how can you see us?"

 _"_ _Well, it is Halloween."_

"It's actually the day after!" the boy with the eyepatch said.

"So who are you?" the one who represented Freddy asked.

 _"_ _My name is Bumblebee, but you can call me 'Bee if it's easier,"_ he answered smiling softly behind his mask.

"Like the superhero?"

 _"_ _So you've heard of me?"_ 'Bee asked in confusion.

The girl nodded. "When _he_ comes around he always tells us about the heroes of the world. You're his favorite."

"…Do you think you could help us be free?" another ghostly voice said.

Bumblebee looked behind them and saw a slightly older ghost dressed in a black shirt with white stripes at the sleeves and matching black pants, in his hand he saw a mask that reminded him of the one from _Spirited Away_ , and there seemed to be a constant stream on tears on his face. Standing behind him was Marionette, the creepiest of all the animatronics he'd seen so far.

 _"_ _Ok…so, can you tell me who did this?"_ he asked stepping past the animatronics surrounding him and kneeling down in front of the kids.

"It was the purple man," Bonnie said.

 _"_ _Who?"_

"The Purple Man," Golden Freddy shivered.

 _"_ _What does this purple man look like?"_

"Big."

"Scary."

"Purple!"

"Him!"

The animatronic Foxy was pointing down the dark halls towards a man standing there, and like the kids said he was dressed from head to toe in an old purple security guard uniform. "Bumblebee…I never expected to see an Autobot here, let alone you my boy," the man said with a sickening smile as he pulled out a knife. "Let's see if we can find one to hold you too. I'm pretty sure Springtrap is around here somewhere."

'Bee naturally stepped in front of the ghostly children, they'd suffered enough at this monster's hands; and while it may be against his code of honor, if this man wasn't leaving in cuffs, he was sure as pit leaving in a body bag. Behind him he heard the creaking of the animatronics behind him and the Purple Man backed up as he saw his previous victims.

Then, he just started laughing. "You really think these little pests can kill me?! If they could I would be dead by now!" he hollered with a grin big enough to rival Joker. "After I add you to my collection, I'll burn this place to the ground. With all of your corpses inside that is."

Bumblebee growled in anger; hearing something behind him he saw the kids, huddled against one another, looking at him with tear-filled frightened eyes. At seeing that, he felt something in him snap…

The Purple Man laughed as he saw the animatronics shrink back, they looked just as pathetic as they did the day he killed them; the Autobot looked no different…till he turned back to look at him that is. And those vibrant, innocent blue eyes that caught his attention in the first place were now dark, cold, and appeared to have changed to violet; he looked downright murderous…

No…he looked evil. This was not the same innocent child he wanted to shove in Springtrap to spend the rest of his days admiring; this was a demon, a monster. A monster who was out for blood; his blood.

The kids stared as the superhero lunged at their killer. The Purple Man dodged the punch, where he stood there was a large crater in the tile floors with cracks spreading out around it. 'Bee whirled around and gave a roundhouse kick, but he rolled behind his prey. Jumping up he jabbed the knife in his back, going for what looked like a gap in the plating. Judging by the pained growl, spatter of the blue fluid that appeared to be the boy's blood, and the fact that he was backhanded harshly back into a wall confirmed that he did pierce the strong armor. Lunging at him, he managed to cut his cheek as he stepped aside. He was forced to dodge again as the Cybertronian turned to punch him, he ducked under the arm, only to have a leg catch him in his gut. His target stood above him, unknowingly revealing the perfect spot to hit as he prepared to give him a nasty—hopefully deadly—blow. Pushing the teen off he stabbed his knife in at the armpit, where the armor was loose and more openly spaced for mobility.

The kids stared as their new friend was hurt trying to protect them, looking at each other they nodded and retreated back into their suits.

The Purple Man laughed as he pulled the knife out, a swell of energon fallowing. He quickly found another opening at where the leg and hip met and shoved the blade through and twisted, eliciting a both enraged and pained cry from his latest victim.

Suddenly he felt something grab his shoulder and hurl him off. Standing near the teen was the animatronic suits he shoved his previous victims in; only now, they weren't the cute famous animatronics: they had dagger-like teeth that barely fit in their mouths, long claws, and glowing red eyes. There was blood dripping off Golden Freddy's claws, and he saw why: on his shoulder, there was now several deep gashes. Foxy and Marionette lunged next, he barely avoided getting his head cut off by the dark animatronic, but a scratch did appear on his neck. Foxy bit his leg; he only managed to kick him off and run a few feet before Chika and Bonnie attacked. Luckily for him those two were slow, so he managed to get away with some scratches on his arms. Golden Freddy and Freddy stood menacingly at the end of the hallway; both Freddy's nearly took his legs off, leaving several deep cuts. Finally he made it, going into the secret room he saw Springtrap leaning against the supports. Hearing clanging he turned and saw all seven emerge slowly from the darkness, the glowing red and violet eyes giving away who was were.

Bumblebee stepped out of the darkness, holding the knife he apparently dropped somewhere while he was running. Despite his weakened state the boy still looked downright demonic, even more so now that he was covered in blood. The Purple Man barely had any time to dodge as he lunged and drove the knife into his side. The man ran towards Springtrap, circling around it he began cranking as fast as he could as he heard the animatronics move slowly towards him.

"I wouldn't do that," Bumblebee sneered. "I've heard those things had a habit of malfunctioning." The scout pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "I can't hold them back forever. Either you come with me now and pay for what you've done. Or they get loose."

"You won't have to do either! I'm going to finish this place once and for all!" he exclaimed going inside Springtrap. Closing it he grinned until he heard the old gears grind and break.

"Can't say I didn't warn you."

-.-

Mt. Justice, November 1

"Optimus Prime—18," the computer announced as he Zetaed in. He rarely ever used the Zeta beams, but due to the fact that Ratchet was doing maintenance on the groundbridge and Bumblebee hadn't come back last night, he decided to make a rare exception.

Going to the living room he saw the group lying across the room with the main menu of a horror movie on the tv. Erica was still sacked out, as was Robin whose arm was draped over her waist. Wally proved to have a snore that could give Bulkhead a run for his money as he slept off to the side; though his and Artemis' hands were touching. Only Roy, Connor, M'gann, Zatanna, and Kaldur were awake.

"Optimus!" Megan said excitedly hugging the Prime. "Happy belated Halloween!"

"Thanks, and to you as well," Optimus said with a nod as he scanned the room; no Bumblebee. "Is Bumblebee here?"

"He's not back yet?" Roy asked in shock.

"No, I thought he might've come here to join in your festivities," the man replied as the others began to stir.

"What's going on? Erica mumbled.

"Bumblebee's missing," Connor stated and the others immediately found themselves wide awake.

"WHAT?!" they all shouted.

-.-

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria

Bumblebee groaned as he woke up, his head felt like it was hit by Bulkhead's wrecking ball. Looking to his left he saw Springtrap lying in a pool of blood in front of him, he attempted to shoot up, but pain shot throughout his body. It was then he noticed that not only was he missing his mask, his armor was covered in blood, and judging by the wounds that were still trickling blood steadily, most of it was his. When did he get those wounds? Last thing he remembered was the serial killer talking about burning the building with him and the rest of the corpses inside, looking at the kids, then…nothing. It was all a big blank, just like the several minutes before his death in the failsafe exercise.

Gritting his teeth he forced himself to his knees, by the time he reached them he was panting and the room was spinning; he probably lost more blood than he thought.

"Are you ok?"

Looking up 'Bee saw the kids next to him, their animatronics standing not very far off. _"I've been better, but I've had worse,"_ he grunted. _"Foxy, do you think you could go get me the curtains from Pirate's cove?"_

Slightly confused, Foxy ran off and came back only a few short moments later with the curtains. "What are these for?"

 _"_ _Well, with your permission, I would like to remove your bodies from the animatronics and wrap them in these,"_ he answered.

They all looked at him surprised, he could barely stand up himself, and here he was still looking out for them. "Yes, please."

It took a few minutes, but he finally managed to get to his feet. Limping over he went to Bonnie first. Opening the rabbit, he tenderly took the body and carefully wrapped it up, before doing the same with the rest; Marionette and Golden Freddy proved to be rather difficult, but eventually he managed to wrap them in the last of the curtains. He had been worrying he'd run out, but Primus seemed to be looking out for him and the kids, giving him enough to respectfully wrap them.

 _"_ _What are your names?"_

"I'm Francis Smith," the boy that was trapped in Freddy smiled.

"Christine Clave," Chika said.

"Ben Ottis," the boy with the bunny ears said sheepishly.

"Frederik Thomas," Foxy smiled.

"George Thompkins," Golden Freddy answered.

"Morgan Caple," the gothic boy answered.

 _"_ _Well, I'm glad to meet all of you,"_ he said with a smile. _"I promise that I'll make sure that your families know what happened. You all can now rest in peace."_

All the kids hugged him with their ghostly arms. "Thank you…" they said before fading.

 _"_ _Please keep them safe,"_ he prayed as darkness once again overtook his vision.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"WHERE IS HE?! YOU TWO WERE WITH HIM LAST!" Erica shouted at Robin and Roy as the pressed themselves against the wall cowering from the enraged White Lantern.

"That place creeped us out, besides the movie marathon was starting soon, we didn't want to miss it," Robin said.

"He can handle himself Erica; he has for the past several million years," Roy added.

Erica was about to continue shouting at them when Optimus stepped forwards from his conversation with Batman and Ratchet. "ENOUGH!" The entire room went silent and stared at the obviously irritated Prime. "Let's start with what we know. Where did you all go last night?"

"We went to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria," Robin answered.

All the adults looked at each other, they'd heard the rumors about that place, if 'Bee was still stuck there, there might be a possibility they'd never see him again considering everyone who's disappeared there has never been found.

"And who left first?" Emerald raised her hand. "Ok, that means you and Robin left next?"

"Yea," Roy said rubbing the back of his head. "We felt like we were being watched, and after finding all that blood…"

By this point Emerald had snuck out of the room and base and way flying as fast as she could towards Jasper. Weaving through the tall buildings, she spotted a familiar yellow Camaro. Landing on the ground she peered in his car hoping that he may've decided to sleep in there so he could get right back to work when he woke up—it wasn't the first time he'd done that—but unfortunately he wasn't there. Creeping out of the alley she saw a bright violet car she was certain wasn't there last night. Going over she peered inside, but found nothing out of the ordinary, other than the pictures of a few kids…wait. It was the missing kids!

She flew over to the door, but stopped. Her ring was warning her of the evil of this place, peering through the glass, she thought she saw the glint of something in the halls, but she couldn't tell what. Now, she had to make a choice, stay out like her gut was telling her; or go in to help her friend, who could've been hurt, or worse…

Taking a deep breath, Emerald closed her eyes and flew inside. After slamming painfully into a wall, she opened her eyes and froze. There was blood spattering the walls and smeared across the floor…and some had the telltale energon blue of a Cybertronian.

She quickly flew to the nearest room and stopped once she got in; it was even more gruesome to see in person than she imagined there was blood and guts all around the gold bunny animatronic. Tearing her gaze away she looked to the other side of the room to find a picture that was not as welcome. All five of the terrifying faces she'd become familiar with, as well as a new one that would forever haunt her nightmares, had small, delicately wrapped bodies at their feet with notes lying on their chests along with a stuffed animal, one of each character. Blinking the tears away she found herself staring at the motionless body of her best friend lying in a pool of his own blood nearby.

Racing over she turned him over and bit her lip as all that came was a weak, pained moan. It was then she realized that he wasn't wearing his mask—he might've retracted it—and had some energon trickling out of the corner of his mouth, signifying some possible internal injuries.

A loud clang resounded throughout the building and Emerald immediately got into a fighting stance. She heard a series of footsteps rapidly coming her way. Constructing a giant mallet, she waited till a figure turned the corner and she swung down. The figure instantly fell to the ground, and she stopped her swing as it was just mere inches away from crushing him.

"EMERALD! WHAT THE HECK?!" Wally shouted peering out from under the mallet with wide, terrified eyes. Robin arrived next and pulled him out just as the rest of the team arrived to stare at the carnage around them.

Optimus and Batman ran in behind the group of teens and quickly scanned the room. Upon seeing his son unresponsive on the floor, the Prime ran over and began to call Ratchet.

"What happened?" Batman asked looming over the Lantern.

"I don't know," she lied. "When I got here there was blood all over the place. I flew in here and found all this."

Bruce nodded, she seemed truly shaken and wouldn't press further. And she was right, he'd managed to reach the footage, he saw what happened and how the man made a choice that led to his own death.

-.-

Autobot Base

Bumblebee's consciousness came back to him slowly. There was a lot of muffled tones, but the one he could clearly hear was an insufferable beeping that refused to stop; he just wanted to go back to sleep! Was that too much to ask?

Apparently it was because he felt someone poking his cheek a split-second later. If he had his modulator he would've groaned, but he just opened his eyes and glared at the offender.

Emerald grinned as she saw her friend's hazy eyes slowly open to glare at her. He'd been unresponsive for the past ten hours; turns out the stab wounds had indeed done their damage, the one under his arm nicked his subclavian, the one in his back cut through a few minor veins and arteries, and the one in his hip was nearly severed. He had to get a whole transfusion just to keep his spark going. Ratchet did mend the damaged arteries, and with Cybertronian biology, he'd be ready for another mission in two days. "Good to see ya back with the living," she joked, but she did notice something flash in his eyes. Fear?

Worry? …Sorrow? "You'll probably want this back." She handed him his modulator and he gave her a smile as he put the necklace on.

 _"_ _What happened?"_

"Well, you lost a lot of blood," she said and he just raised an eyebrow at her unamused.

"So maybe you could tell us what occurred?" Kaldur asked as the rest of the team followed. At hearing through the telepathic link he was awake they all rushed in to see how he was doing.

 _"_ _I…I don't remember much. I was investigating the murders, when I got trapped in the office by the animatronics. A little two after in the morning the power went out and I made a break for it. Unfortunately they cornered me, but I realized that they had no intention of hurting me…I managed to appease them when the guy who murdered the kids appeared,"_ he answered holding his head as a dull ache spread through it. _"Next thing I knew I was in that room with stab wounds, the animatronics and the guy was in the spare suit he was planning to shove me in was dead. I managed to get up, remove, and wrap their bodies before everything went dark again."_ He obviously left out a few details, but they seemed to accept his answer. _"Speaking of which. Where are they? I made a promise to ensure their families knew what happened and that they were buried properly!"_

"Over here," Robin said slightly confused but he didn't question it, somethings about their friend didn't need to be questioned. Bumblebee detached the tubes and wires, and got up. Roy looped his friend's arm over his shoulder and let him lean his weight against him, as his legs almost gave out. Fallowing him into the adjoining room he saw six very expensive coffins. "They were given the best. Their families have been notified and the burials scheduled."

Superboy walked over and handed him a small chest with a little bright yellow envelope sitting on top. "We also found this when we were searching the building."

Taking a small box he saw a small _thank you_ _card_ scribbled in a child's handwriting to him. Opening the small gift, he blinked away a few tears as he read it, before setting it down and opening the box; inside was six small stuffed toys, one of each character, beside each one was a small little personal article from the children. Taking a deep breath, he closed the box with the note inside, he didn't want anyone else to read it; odds are Batman and his dad already did.

"Bumblebee?" Connor asked seeing a stray tear go down the scout's face as he read the note. They all had debated on reading the note, but the fact it had a child's handwriting stopped them. Now they couldn't help but wonder what that note said as the teen hid it away in the chest, forced himself to support his own weight, and left the room.

Though they thought they heard a barely audible: "Thank you."

 **A/N: alright so I don't own FNAF! I apologize for this, binging on Markiplier and getting into the game before writing a chapter probably wasn't my best idea, but hey! I got a chaper out of it for Halloween so it works! Though, it was far, far longer than I anticipated. Still sorry for how I get around Halloween, it brings out the dark, weird, creepy side of me.**


	32. Divided

Chapter 31

 **A/N: I want to wish Emerald's owner, and my co-writer Sil Vaturha 98 a very happy birthday!**

 **I just own this story! Emerald belongs to my friend! Ok, so I'm apologizing now, I know I've been doing a lot of the YJ episodes in a row, and you're probably expecting a TFP one at this point, but no. The next one should be…that's what I'm planning on anyways.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Synthesized voices_**

November 5, Roanoke Island

"How 'bout here?" Klarion asked and Tiekel meowed in agreement. "Finally!" Pulling out a jewel from his pocket, he set if down on the ground and a glowing pentagram spread out. Going to his spot he grinned. "Time to get the old gang back together. Wotan. Black Briarthorn. Felix Faust. Wizard. Now, let's put on a show."

They began chanting.

-.-

Cave

"Did you get everything?" Batman asked as the teens came back holding supplies.

"Everything, plus groceries," M'gann replied.

"Cookies!" Wally said rushing up to a box.

"Snickerdoodles."

"Babe, you rock my world," he said.

"Glad you're back Zatanna, this mean you're officially joining the team?" Artemis asked.

They looked at Zatara who cast a spell and levitated the boxes to another spot. "I don't know, Zatara is so overprotective, just getting him to let me to visit gets a whole day's worth of persauading," she grumbled.

 _"_ _I know the feeling,"_ 'Bee said making her jump. _" Sorry, I have a habit of doing that. I'm Bumblebee, I take it you're the infamous Zatanna?"_

He held out a hand which she accepted. "Infamous huh?" she said. "So you heard about that?"

He laughed. _" I was there when Emerald was doing the interrogation!"_

She laughed, Artemis had told her about that nightmare. "Well it's nice to finally meet the ever elusive Autobot who always seems to be absent when I'm here."

 _"_ _Sorry, I'm usually on missions, doing school stuff, doing my patrol, or grounded ,"_ he replied.

"Your dad overprotective too?" she asked.

 _"_ _Like you would not believe."_

"I know right, I wish he'd just give me a little space!"

At that moment all the adults in the room vanished. _"Guess that saying's true. Careful what you wish for."_

-.-

Fawcett City

Billy Baston came away from the window, leaning over the couch as his uncle rubbed his proudly as they listened to his accomplishments on the news.

Then his uncle vanished.

"Uncle Dudley!" he said hopping to his feet. "Don't know which of my enemies is behind this, but this looks like a job for Captain Marvel!" Just as he was about to say the word, he stopped to see the news lady was gone. "Guess it's not just Uncle Dudley who's gone missing."

"LOOK OUT!"

Hearing a crash he ran to the window and saw a car crashed in the street. "You ok?" one boy asked.

"Forget about me, where's Mommy!" the girl pointed revealing an empty spot where the woman was a moment ago.

"All the grown-ups are gone, and Cap's a grown up, so that means if I change, I'll disappear too."

-.-

Autobot Base

/We've set up a refugee center at the High School gym/ Wally informed. /Any luck with…?/

 _"_ _Unfortunately no, we can't reach the Batcave, Hall of Justice, no one is here at Base, and I can't seem to reach or locate any adult hero,"_ 'Bee informed. _"I'm sending a bridge your way to transfer you to the next location."_

/Guess we're on our own/

 _"_ _Indeed, get to the bridge ,"_ he said.

"Traditional media is inactive, but kids worldwide are reporting the same thing," Robin informed. "Every adult, eighteen and older has just vanished."

"And the sorcery needed to pull this off, scary big," Zatanna said as she bridged in.

 _"_ _Which is why we're removing you from search and rescue squad. We need you to find out the source ,"_ 'Bee said pulling up the footage of Zatara using a spell to locate the Injustice League.

"B-But the words is only part of it, the rest is training and…guys, I'm just no on their level," she stuttered.

"I know it's hard, but try to stay whelmed. We'll find Zatara, Batman, the Autobots, all of them," Robin said. "It's what we do."

 _"_ _Robin, man the fort, I trust you know how to operate the systems?"_

"Ratchet taught me the ropes," Robin nodded.

 _"_ _Good, I'll be back as soon as I make sure everything's alright in Jasper,"_ 'Bee said driving out of base.

Arriving at the city, 'Bee pulled to a stop as he spotted several crashed cars. Lifting them off of each other he found a few kids, mildy injured, but alive. Picking them up, he put them in his car, and drove through the city almost hitting Jack as he held several other kids.

"Bumblebee?!" the boy gasped seeing the legendary hero outside his high school.

The young hero reached into the backseat, pulling out the kids he rescued. _"The refugee center inside?"_

Jack nodded and fallowed the Autobot. Pushing the door open most stopped seeing the hero. "Bumblebee!" Vince sqealed before coughing. "Remember me?"

The hero set the kids down and pulled out a small first aid kid. _"How could I forget the street racer who blew my cover?"_ he stated as he finished bandaging the kid's arm. _"Who's in charge?"_

"I-I am," Jack stuttered.

 _"_ _How many do you have searching for kids?"_

"Most the high schoolers," he said, "the rest are either watching them or getting supplies."

"We all agreed to bring them here," Sierra said as several more guys came in with kids.

"Though we've had to break into a few places to get them," Vince stated.

 _"_ _I don't care as long as they're safe,"_ he replied. _" And I'm sure their parents, wherever they are will appreciate it."_

"So…are all the other adult heroes gone too?" Raf asked.

 _"_ _Unfortunately. How is everyone communicating?"_

"Mass text, and then they send another text to more people, and so on and so forth," Jack stated.

 _"_ _Rudimentiary, but effective. Send out one to tell everyone to check everywhere they can, no matter if it means breaking the law. However, that is the only law that can be broken. And gather a group willing to go stay in the hospitals and keep an eye on thr kids there. There is a possibility that they can't be moved."_

"Yes sir!"

 _"_ _Good, I'm going out to continue the search."_

-.-

Central City

"I found some more," Emerald said running into the children's hospital as she brought kids from all over the city.

"Any of them hurt?" a guy from their school, Justin, asked walking away from his little sister to help the rest of the teens take the kids.

"Scrapes and bruises, nothing major," she replied setting the kids on the construct down.

"Is that all of them?" another asked.

"I think so, but I'm going to double check, at the speed I was going I might've missed one," she replied. Throughout the day she'd been usung her Halloween speed to find and get kids, bringing them to the children's hospital she volunteered at. Picking up a lot of surprised high schoolers on the way to help out.

They nodded and she flew out. Going towards the water she checked a few of the boats she missed, catching a little boy as he fell off, making another construct she grabbed the stranded kids, and yanking out a few that had already fallen into the water. Going into the city, she made her way through the apartments grabbing a few kids that were hiding on her first eight rounds.

Going back she saw that the other high schoolers that volunteered to search were returning with kids as well.

"Find more?" one called.

"Yea, after this I'm going to check again," she replied landing.

"We're heading out again too," another said as they went inside.

"Can you take them?" Erica asked moving the construct towards them.

"Can do," they said.

"Thanks, I'm going to get statered on that next round," she replied flying off.

-.-

Happy Harbor

Superboy ripped the door off another car, he just bridged in from Hong Kong, and before that Metropilis where 'Bee had sent him to rescue the kids. Last he heard M'gann was in New York, Kid Flash was somewhere in Russia, Aqualad was in Japan, and Emerald had just finished up her hometown and was being sent somewhere else.

Pulling the crying child out of the car he went over to three other cars, finding kids inside, only happily sucking on his sippy-cup as the other three climbed all over him. Heading to the high school he saw Artemis singing to a group of kids to keep them entertained.

"Got four more," he said.

"The others?"

"Still have their hands full, 'Bee certainly is not taking it easy on us."

"What can you expect from the guy with the teleporter that can send you anywere in the world without a Zetatube," Artemis shrugged.

Setting them down, the one with the sippy cup handed it to him. "For me? Thanks," he said taking the odd, but welcome gift.

 _/Everyone return to Cave for plan assessment and world broadcast. Bumblebee out/_

-.-

Fawcett City

Billy ran down the street and looked around before ducking under a fence. Going down the alley, he went into the photo booth. "Captain Marvel—15." Nothing happened. "Captain Marvel—15," he repeated. "Override—HOJ/Watchtower, priotity red! Captain Marvel—15!"

The computer scanned him. "Not recognized. Access denied."

"C'mon!"

Getting out he walked through the city, stopping as the televisions turned on, showing Aqualad, Kid Flash, Emerald Lantern, Robin, and Bumblebee. "Greetings children of Earth, I am Aqualad, these are my friends Robin, Kid Flash, Emerald Lantern, and Bumblebee."

"We are using Justice League systems to cast and stream to every tv, radio, computer, and smartphone on the planet," Robin informed.

"We know you must be scared and angry, and that the temptation to run wild is strong. But please remain calm," Wally said.

"We are going to find a way to fix this and bring your parents back," Emerald reassured.

 _"_ _But until then the oldest among you must step up and take charge. Take care of your younger siblings, take care of kids who have no one. Work in groups to gather kids and bring them to a safe location such as a school or a hospital."_

"Protect them," Aqualad said. "It is up to you. Help in any way you can."

"It's up to Billy Batson," he resolved and ran towards the airfield. "I'm getting to the cave no matter the risk." Climbing the fence he ran towards the building where a girl sat watching the broadcast.

"Which is how exactly?" she muttered.

"Depends. You have a piolet's liecense?" Billy asked.

-.-

Cave

"I finally got through to Atlantis, no adults there either," Aqualad said as he joined KF in the trophy room.

"Just how desperate are we?" he asked motioning to the Helmet of Fate. "It could defininately come in handy."

"Yes, but we both know that anyone who puts it on may never remove it."

"So not that desperate?"

"Not yet," he nodded.

"Guys, I'm ready to try my father's spell," Zatanna said.

Going to the main room, a map of the globe appeared and the young sorceress stepped forwards. "Etacol eht ecruos fo eht ecnabrutsid."

"Coordinates locked, Roanoke Island," Robin confirmed.

"She did it," Emerald said going to 'Bee who was in the living room.

 _"_ _Where?"_

"Roanoke Island," she answered. "Any luck?"

Bumblebee shook his head, he'd been attempting to reach his father through their bond, but…no luck. _"It's still there, but it feels like it's been blocked."_

"So much for trying to reach the adults," she sighed.

 _"_ _Yea."_

-.-

"I cannot believe you talked me into this!" the girl said as she flew the plane to Happy Harbor.

"You did the right thing Amber, I know I don't look like much, but I really need to get to Happy Harbor," Billy said.

"We're almost there. Should arrive just afer midnight, on my birthday," she said.

"Wait, you turn eighteen at midnight?!" he asked as she disappeared. "That'll be a yes."

-.-

Cave

"I'm glad you brought Zatanna, old friend," Batman said as they watched Zatara's daughter talk with Artemis and Bumblebee. "Does this mean you'll allow her to join the team?"

"I do not know, Zatanna's so…my only child," he sighed. "I wish I could get used to the idea that she's growing up."

"You and me both," Optimus said putting a hand on his shoulder. "I remember how terrified I was when 'Bee first told me he wanted to be a warrior. But you can't hold them back forever."

At that moment, all the kids vanished. "Zatanna!"

-.-

Fawcett City

Dudley sat on the couch worried out of his mind. One moment his nephew was safely next to him, not off fighting some villain, when he just disappeared.

"Reports are the same worldwide, every child under the age of eighteen has disappeared. Parents are desperate for answers; from secular and religious leaders to the heroes of the Justice League and the scientists at facilities like Starr Labs," Cat Grant reported.

-.-

Gotham

"THOSE EGG-HEADS KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR KIDS! FOR ALL WE KNOW THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE! MAKE THEM TELL US THE TRUTH!" a blonde man yelled and the rioters agreed charging at the police line as the ring-leader backed away.

"STAND DOWN GORDON!"

"CITIZENS OF GOTHAM, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR HOMES. REST ASSURED THE BEST MINDS HERE AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD ARE WORKING ON THIS AND ONLY THIS! EVERYTHING POSSIBLE IS BEING DONE TO RECOVER OUR CHILDREN! VIOLENCE WILL NOT SOLVE ANYTHING!"

A man in a white lab coated exited a building with a case, walking to a red sports car that drove around the side with a briefcase in hand.

-.-

Cave

"How desperate are we?" Zatara asked as Batman and Optimus walked up.

"I've informed the Watchtower that you've found the focal point at Roanoke, but the rest of the League is averting the chaos," Batman stated. "Optimus, any luck?"

"No, the bond is blocked, I can't reach him," he said shaking his head.

"Tornado, you, and I are on our own then," Batman said.

"I'd do anything to have my daughter back," Zatara said.

"But there's many ways to lose her as well," Optimus stated.

"So, not that desperate. Not yet…so the entire League is unavailable? What about the Autobots?"

"Diverting crisis in numerous locations," Optimus replied.

"The only one might be Captain Marvel, but he's missing," Batman said.

-.-

Happy Harbor

"I can't! If I say it I'll be an adult and maybe disappear forever! Captain Marvel may have the courage of Achilles, but Billy Baston…has the courage of Billy Batson. Shazam!" Lightning struck the plane and he caught himself as the plane vanished from under him. "Whoa! Hey! I didn't disappear!"

"AHH!"

"Amber!" he exclaimed flying down and catching the falling girl. "Gotcha!"

Dropping her off he flew to the cave. "Recognized Captain Marvel—15."

"Alright guys I'm here to…you're back!" he exclaimed hugging the three adult heroes. "Is it over? Where's the team?!"

"Haven't you heard! Every child has gone missing!" Zatara snapped.

"Captain, where have you been?" Batman asked as his eyes went wide in realization.

"On a world without grown-ups. Holy cow there are two worlds!" he exclaimed.

"Two dimensions one for adults, another for kids," Optimus stated.

"And you can travel between them?" Zatara asked.

"I think I can—I know I can! Shazam!" he said. "It works!"

"Where did you come from?" Aqualad asked.

"Quick, read my mind!"

M'gann did as asked and gasped. "He's…Captain Marvel."

"And I'm Speedy Gonzoles," Kid scoffed.

"Really Wally? Do I have to get you nachoes and pinapple juice to get on your good side?"

The teens just stared in shock. "Alright, I believe it," Emerald said.

"There'll be threats in both dimensions, and we not be familiar with our opponents," Batman said and Cap relayed that to the team.

"But the key to this mission is a coordinated, simultainious attacks from both sides," Aqualad said.

"Agreed, the best way to fight sorcery is to strike fast and disrupt their efforts."

"And hope the two dimensions merge naturally back into one."

-.-

Roanoke Island

Hearing something Klarion turned around, stopping the incoming weapons with a shield. "That's the best you can do?" Tossing his hand out he blasted Artemis and Robin back.

Aqualad, Superboy, and KF chared from three different directions and slammed into a barrier.

"Kaerb sih reirrab!" Zatanna shouted and only a small ripple appeared across it.

"Baby magic," Klarion scoffed before speaking a spell of his own sending her flying up into the air where Emerald caught her.

In the shadows of the trees, Bumblebee sat with his sniper rifle. _"Now?"_

 _"_ _Not yet!"_ Emerald snapped as She slammed her hammer down on the barrier and M'gann tossed rocks into it.

Klarion blasted the Lantern back and she just flew back up, slamming her hammer down harder, making cracks in the dome. "Huh, so she did get it," the Lord of Chaos huffed.

In the adult dimension, Captain Marvel landed behind several of the sorcerers tossing a rock in their direction.

Nearby Batman landed, tossing a Bat-a-rang at Blackbriar Thorn. The dark magician used a vine to stop the attack, wrapping more vines around the Dark Knight as a tree grew. Using his swords, Optimus cut through the tree freeing his ally. As Tornado landed, he made a twister head for Felix Faust, who shot fore from his hand to block the raging winds.

"Nair gninthgil nopu meht!" Zatara said. The clouds rolled with thunder and lightning came down, striking all four within the pentagram. Inside the crystal glowed sending the energy to the other dimension.

"So you teamed up with the grown ups?" Klarion growled as he saw the glowing gem. "Teamwork is so overrated."

Lightning came out of the jewel, hitting the team, knocking Robin and Artemis unconscious. Emerald roared at the surge of energy, and used it to swing her hammer through the barrier, shattering it.

"Oops, probably should've avoided you," Klarion said. Using his powers, he lifted Aqualad and KF and sent them slamming into her.

 _"_ _Take the shot!"_

 _"_ _About time."_ Grinning behind his battlemask, 'Bee took aim right at the cat. Taking a breath, he pulled the trigger, and the cat shrieked as the bullet ripped through it. Reaiming his gun, he aimed right for the yellow jewel. Firing again, he knocked it out of its spot, sending it skidding along the ground.

The pentagram flickered as the jewel's other half was knocked from its spot. "Captain, that yellow gem. Without it the worlds will merge back into one."

"I'll tell the team. Shazam!" Lightning struck and he saw Klarion flickering the planes of reality, an injured cat at his feet, and the yellow gem by where Aqualad was getting electrocuted. "It's the—!"

 _"_ _Don't shout, I've psychically linked you with the rest of the team,"_ Miss Martian said covering his mouth.

 _"_ _Cool—I mean…it's the gem! That one next to Aqualad."_

 _"_ _The one I shot?"_ 'Bee asked.

 _"_ _You shot it?! That is so epic—err..well, destroy it and we win!"_

"That's all I had to know," Zatanna said grabbing the Helmet of Fate.

"Zatanna!"

"Stop!"

Putting it on, Dr. Fate flew up. "Klarion. This ends now!"

 _"_ _Go warn Zatara!"_ Emerald said and she made a sword and shield construct.

As Klarion and Fate began fighting, Fate's form wavered revealing Zatanna before Fate reappeared. "You're not all here Nabu! When the world's divided the helmet split too! And you're losing hold of that poor, soon-to-be-dead girl! She gave herself up for nothing!"

 _"_ _Not on my watch,"_ 'Bee growled taking aim at the wounded cat again before firing making Klarion flicker again as his familiar was attacked. Making a shield around the cat he glared around for the culprit.

"You're not all here either Klarion, not with your anchor to this reality as damaged as that," Fate replied.

Emerald swung down, almost stabbing the Lord of Chaos as she grabbed the gem. As the Witch Boy tried to attack her Fate used a spell to bind him. "Catch!" Emerald called as she tossed the gem up to Fate.

"Shazam!"

"She did what?!" Zatara exclaimed after hearing what he said. "Go back right now and—!"

"No, the sooner we end this, the sooner you can help your daughter," he replied. "Keep them distracted, I have an idea! Speed of Mercury, Power of Zeus!" Flying up he swung back down and began spinning, tunneling into the ground. Coming up inside the pentagram he grabbed the gem and tossed it to Zatara.

Speaking the same spell, the worlds became one again. "Well, they sure don't make evil immortal sorcerers like they used to," Klarion growled dissolving the bonds, grabbing his cat, and hopping through a portal.

"Aren't you ganna stop him?" Kid asked looking up at Fate.

"To what end? Klarion is Chaos incarnate, he cannot be contained."

"Did we win?" Robin asked as he and Artemis got up.

"At a cost," Aqualad replied.

"Fate!" Zatara called getting the Lord of Order's attention. "Great Nabu, release my daughter."

"No," Fate replied. "Witnessing the havor wrought in these hours, the world needs Dr. Fate, and the girl's natural affinity for the mystic arts makes her the perfect canadate."

"You can't do that!"

"She has her own life to live!"

"Kent would never allow you!"

"Kent Nelson, objected strenuously, so I released his spirit into the afterlife. He is gone," Fate stated.

"Take me instead," Zatara offered. "My skills are already at their peak; my body is physically stronger. Better able to withstand the strain of your power."

"All true, but if I remove the helmet, what garuntee have I that you won't dawn it?"

"My word. I teg ym dorw."

Fate landed and Zatanna removed the helmet. "Dad!" she exclaimed hugging him.

"Zatanna," he smiled hugging her and kissing her forehead. "Remember, I love you." Taking the helmet he looked to the others. "Take care of my girl."

"You have our word," Batman nodded.

"Dad no! Please! This was my fault!" Zatanna exclaimed trying to rush to him as he put on the helmet. "Dad!"

"Yield this to Fate," he said going over to the tied-up sorcerers and flying them up into the air before they vanished in a flash of light.

Zatanna fell to her knees, weeping burying her face in the nearest source of comfort as the others looked on sadly.

-.-

Central City

Emerald and Wally raced back home barging through the door. "Mom! Dad!/Aunt! Uncle!"

The two adults came from the kitchen, taking both into a bonecrushing hug.

-.-

Fawcett City

Dudley sat on the couch staring sadly at the picture of him and his nephew. "Shazam!" Blinking from the flash of light he saw Billy who raced over and hugged him.

-.-

Gotham

"Mom!?" Artemis called as she walked in.

"Artemis!" her mother exclaimed rolling over hugging her.

-.-

Autobot Base

"Kid!" Bulkhead exclaimed as Bumblebee and Optimus bridged back.

 _"_ _Guys! Need air!"_ he choaked out as his team was slowly hugging the life out of him.

"Alright Bulkhead, let him go before you crush him to death," Arcee chuckled before grabbing Bumblebee's ear. "Don't. Ever. Scare. Us. Like. That. Again."

 _"_ _I missed y'all too."_

-.-

Happy Harbor, November 7

Down in the trophy room, Wally and Conner stood adding the sippy cup to the souvenir collection, upstairs, the others were getting all moved in.

"My room is right next to yours if you need anything," Megan said as they set the last of Zatanna's things down.

"Thanks…I, uh…could use a little alone time," Zatanna replied.

"Sure," Erica said putting a hand on her shoulder.

 _"_ _If you need anything, feel free to come to any one of us. We understand what it's like,"_ 'Bee said as they left, leaving her to grieve.

-.-

"Happy?" Klarion laughed.

"Yes, your distraction—though a bit extreme—amid your trademarked chaos, no one will notice the absence of our prize," the Brain said as Sportsmaster, Knockout, and the Riddler walked in with a briefcase. "And in time, we will bring it into the light."


	33. Snow Day

Chapter 32

 **A/N: I just own this story.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's voice_**

Cantral City, November 11

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Erica screamed jumping on her cousin's bed.

"Erica," he groaned.

"What? I figured I'd be the first to congratulate you!" she exclaimed hugging him.

"Thanks…wait…is that snow?! Awesome!" he cheered.

"Yep, now hurry up! Breakfast is almost ready!" she called running downstairs.

"Happy Birthday Wally," Mrs. West said setting down the last plate as her son came down.

"My favorite breakfast! Heaping piles of everything!" he exclaimed. "Thanks Mom."

As they all began eating Mr. West chuckled. "You know Wally, if you ever come up for air I can take you to the DMV to get your driver's liscence. This weather will be a good proving ground."

"Not really in a big rush to drive Dad," he said swallowing, "cause, ya know, I'm me."

"Meaning you can run faster than traffic," Erica reminded.

"Also true! Besides can't go anyways because the team is throwing a big surprise party this afternoon at the cave."

"Wha—you weren't supposed to know about that!" Erica growled tossing a french toast stick at his head.

"At school today, ask your teachers for the definition of surprise," Mr. West said.

"You want surprise? Just watch Miss Martian's expression when I collect my birthday kiss," Wally grinned as Erica smacked her forehead.

"Well, I have a surprise for you," his mom said turning on the TV, "or at least your Aunt Iris does."

"And a special shoutout to my nephew Wally, wishing him a very happy sixteenth birthday," their aunt said.

"Awesome!"

"Now for school closures. The fallowing schools have declared today a snow day: Debuke Elementary, Speezack Jr High, Central City High, Keystone High…"

"SWEET!" the two cousins exclaimed high-fiving.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"Recognized: Kid Flash—B04, Emerald Lantern—B03. Zetatube network now offline due to extreme atmospheric conditions."

"Looks like we made it just in the nick of time," Erica said brushing some stray snow out of her braid.

"Yea," Wally agreed as they walked into the living room. "It'd be a tragedy if I missed my own…"

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted as the lights turned on.

"What? Aw, you guys, you shouldn't have," he said.

"Please, like you didn't already hear it from Bulkhead," Arcee said.

"Hey!"

"I made two cakes!" M'gann said setting out all the food.

"Sweet! What will you guys eat?"

"We get the one I cooked," Erica said. "Make a wish dummy."

"Way ahead of you!" he said blowing out his candles.

"So what'd you wish for?" Megan asked.

"If I tell you my wish, it won't come true, but if you guess…" he trailed off as the Martian girl handed him a slice. "Nope guess again."

"Happy birthday," Megan said kissing his forehead.

"You said you wanted a kiss, you didn't specify where," Erica whispered.

"Shut up."

Laughing she grabbed a piece of cake and joined 'Bee, Robin, and Zatanna. "You settling in ok?" Robin asked.

"Oh yea, just like home," she muttered.

"We know it's all new and really intimidating," Erica said putting a hand on her shoulder, "but someday, you'll get used to watching my cousin eat."

"Think we should tell him?" Artemis asked and they all looked over.

"Getting warmer babe, but I can make you warmer still."

 _"_ _Yes, please, I'm dying to see his reaction."_

Erica elbowed her friend. "You are so mean."

 _"_ _And this is coming from the girl who socked her own cousin in the face with two-dozen dodgeballs?"_

"I hate you."

 _"_ _Love you too Erica."_

"Allow me," Artemis said walking over, sitting next to Wally she whispered it in his ear.

"Aw man!"

/Attention team, suit up. Polar stealth. Mission briefing in five/

-.-

"Where's Flash?" KF asked as they looked at Batman on the video-screen.

/Flash, Red Tornado, Arcee, and Bulkhead, already have their assignments/ Batman stated. /A massive ice storm has paralyized North Amerca from coast to coast. Satellite imagery has detected five flying ice fortresses, source unknown that seem to be responsible and must be stopped/

"Can't the Watchtower blow those things out of the sky?" Wally asked.

"What's the Watchtower?" Zatanna asked.

Batman sighed. /The League's orbiting headquarters is not weaponized, and with two of our three Green Lanterns off world we need all hands-on-deck/

"Wait…is this what I think this is?" Emerald asked. "A League-Team team-up?"

"Whoa! Really?!" Robin and Kid said high-fiving.

/Superboy, take the supercycle to rondezvous with the Batplane at ice fortress one, you'll drop off Robin and Aqualad. Then you and Emerald Lantern will rendezvous with Black Canary and Red Tornado at ice fortress two. Zatanna, Miss Martian, and Artemis rendezvous with Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow at ice fortress three. Bumblebee, Ratchet will be sending you a bridge to rendezvous with the Autobots at ice fortress four. Other leaguers will handle five. Sending coordinates now/

"Uh Batman, you forgot me!" Wally reminded.

/Kid Flash, a young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. A with all conventional air traffic grounded by the storm you'll need to pick up the heart in Boston and transport it across country/

"Why can't we send it through the groundbridge?"

 _"_ _The heart would be vulnerable to the low-level radiation emitted by the bridge, it can't travel through human skin and is harmless. However, the heart would not have a prodective epidermis and the container would not block the radiation. In the end the heart would have significant problems later on or would die in transit,"_ Bumblebee explained.

"What about Zeta-Tubes?"

"Offline," Robin reminded.

"Right…then how can I say no," he said tapping his symbol and his uniform turned back to normal. "Guess I won't be needing stealth. Speedy delivery boy, at your service."

/Law enforcement across the country has been alerted to you mission and is clearing your route/ Batman informed.

"Good luck," Erica said patting her cousin on the back as they took off.

-.-

Boston

Wally ran past cars pulled off along the side of the road as he raced to the hospital, turning some corners he skid to a stop in front of the doctors. "Someone order a pizza?"

"What you're delivering is considerably more precious to the girl whose life depends on it."

"Duh, I meant did anyone order a pizza for me? A guy burns a lot of calories running at the speed of sound," he scoffed, putting on the backpack.

"Sorry, no," the doctor replied. "Now listen, this pack is heavily isulated for shock absorbtion, but that doesn't mean the organ within needs any extraneous jostling. Your PDA." Wally held up his arm and she put a time in. "You have four hours to deliver the heart, after that it is no longer viable. Am I clear?"

"As crystal."

"Then go," she said.

Nodding he took off and tapped into the Watchtower feed as he ran.

-.-

Ice Fortress 1

Batman jumped out of the Batplane onto the fortress as Robin leapt up, spinning in midair, landing on a gun where he placed a bomb and jumped off as it exploded.

Aqualad and Aquaman ran forwards towards another gun. Kaldur ducked behind a wall and Aquaman pulled part of the metal fortress up, providing cover as his protégé leapt over and used his waterbearer to swing a whip down and destroy the gun. Flash ran past and ran around one as it tried to fallow him before it twisted itself off.

-.-

Somewhere in the Midwest

"C'mon! Robin and Aqualad fighting with Batman, Aquaman, and Flash! Who's missing from the picture here?!" he groaned. Looking up he grimaced and leapt onto a bunch of crashed cars. Making a detour he ran through the city he was in, desperately trying to ignore all the wonderful food options surrounding him. Turning back onto the highway he got back onto the designated path.

"He's due past here any minute."

"Perfect." Looking up the officers froze as they saw an imposing man in silver armor. "Now all in need to to is get his attention." With a sadistic grin, Megatron landed in front of them and hit one, sending the cop flying back. The others charged, and the ex-gladiator, stabbed his claws into one, tossing him into another man, before picking up another and pulling out his sword.

Kid Flash ran through a snowy fog, out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of silver and the form of a cop being held up in the air. Turning around, he ran back towards them to see it was none other than the Decepticon head-hancho himself. "Megatron? What's he doing here?" he muttered.

Seeing him coming, Megatron loosened his stance and sidestepped the incoming speedster. Seeing that he had successfully gotten his target's attention he crushed the man's neck, he was useless to him now anyways.

Megatron laughed seeing the absolutely horrified look on the child's face before seeing it switch to rage. This was too easy.

"Go! Get outta here! I deal with Bucket Head!" Kid Flash ordered.

The gladiator just laughed again, before pulling out his sword and stabbing the ground where Wally was a heartbeat before. " _You?_ You think _you_ can handle _me_?" he grinned. "Child, I am out of your league. Not even Optimus Prime has been able to defeat me, what makes you think a mere _human_ like yourself can?"

With a roaring battle cry, Wally charged forwards, barely ducking under the deadly sword the Decepticon wield. Jumping up he flipped in the air, and kicked off the back of Megatron's bucket head.

Spinning around, Megatron managed to swipe at KF, catching his legs and tossing him back. doing another flip, Wally landed on his feet and slid back. "When I heard authorities were closing off this highway for a speedster, I was expecting a _real_ hero, not his pathetic duplicate. You are hardly worth the effort it will take to kill you."

Wally ground his teeth together, this guy was really getting on his nerves.

-.-

Ice Fortress 2

The Supercycle flew down towards the fortess dodging the incoming shots. Canary released a cry, making cracks in the hull.

Jumping out, Superboy grabbed onto a gun, and pulled it out before tossing it to Red Tornado who sent it flying into another gun down below.

Emerald flew up and made a shield andoung her before flying down and through one of the ship engines, before coming back up to see Moonknight and Wolf tearing apart the wires of one of the guns.

"Superboy!" she called as he removed the gun. Making a baseball bat, he smiled and tossed it and she hit it right through another part of the fortress.

-.-

South Dakota

Kid Flash charged full speed at Megatron, getting into a crouch, Megatron jumped over and flipped slashing with his sword. Rolling, Wally skid away, peering behind him to see if the man had breached the container, luckily he only slashed his shoulder and missed the bag.

Hearing a beep he looked down at his watch to see that he had two hours left. Groaning at his own stupidity, he turned and ran just as a blast almost hit him.

Megatron continued firing till the boy was out of range, lowering his gun, he checked his chronometer. "It should suffice," he scowled. "Soundwave, send a groundbridge. I'm freezing my sparkplugs off out here! And contact our friends to set up phase two."

Closing the comm he strolled towards the blue vortex as it opened.

"This is the last time I agree to do something for Savage just because my teleporter is better."

Reaching Montana, Wally looked down at his clock. "Wasted about fifteen minutes on Megatron, but I can still make it on time!" he resolved before checking his snack compartment, and frowned seeing it was empty. "Fantastic, this is what I get for fighting the Lord of Buckets…why was he there anyways?"

-.-

Ice Fortress 3

The Bioship swooped down and fired a beam, vaporizing one of the guns.

On the surface Green Arrow and Artemis fired arrows at several guns, making them explode.

Martain Manhunter and his niece flew below the fortress and forced the snow back, clogging the engine and making them explode.

"Yortsed eht gniniamer senigne!" Zatanna spoke from where she stood on a magic platform, and the remaining three engines set fire and exploded as the fortress began falling to the ground.

-.-

Seattle

Running up to the hospital, Kid slipped and slid up to the entrance, removing the backpack he held it up to the doctor who ran out. "I made it! I'm here!"

"I'm…I'm sorry. You're too late."

"What?! I still have twenty minutes to spare!" he exclaimed.

"I know, but she passed away twelve minutes ago."

"Tw-Twelve minutes?" he gasped, if he hadn't stopped to fight Megatron...she would still be alive…

"Perhaps another recipient can be found," the doctor said going back inside.

Taking a breath, he hung his head and went inside, berating himself for his failure.

"Kid Flash! We've been waiting for you!" several people said rushing over. "Where's the Queen's heart?"

"Wait, the girl's dead so now it's going to a queen?" he asked.

"The girl is the queen, Queen Perdita of Lativa age ten, and she's not dead but she is dying!" the doctor explained.

"Scrap!" he cursed shooting to his feet. Looking towards an elevator he saw the doctor that took the heart. Growling he looked at the direction it was heading and raced down the stairs.

-.-

Ice Fortress 4

Bulkhead ripped off one of the cannons and swung it through part of the fortress. "Arcee!"

Swinging inside, Arcee crawled through the interior and reached the engine panel. /Alright guys, give me directions on which engine to turn off/

Optimus ducked a shot and looked over the edge, "Arcee, turn off the engines in divisions three and four."

The gun aimed for the Prime and Bumblebee jumped in front, deflecting the shots off his armor, before jumping over the barrel and bending it back, causing it to explode when it fired.

 _"_ _Bumblebee! Maneuver six,"_ Optimus called through the bond. Nodding the scout leapt towards him and took his hand. Spinning, the Prime sent his son flying towards one of the guns where he slid under, grabbed the barrel and landed on top, pushing the barrel down, before he flipped off, ripping out the gun and tossing it to Bulkhead to used his wrecking ball to crush it and another cannon.

The engines deactivated and it pitched away from the city it was flying towards, heading down towards the desert below.

 _"_ _Another crash landing? Arcee, this is the last time we let you fly."_

/You act as if I'm pioleting this thing in the first place!/

-.-

Seattle

Seeing the man about to get into a car, Wally raced past, snatching the precious bundle from his grip. The false doctor pulled a gun from his coat, and two more men stepped out of the car and began shooting at him. Dodging the shots he growled as he saw them blocking the stairs, feeling a breeze he ran towards the parking garage's exit, when a feeling of verigo hit him. Stumbling to his knees, he started to crawl away.

Count Vertigo scoffed. "Crawling away, is the young hero reduced to that?"

"Hey, I'm not proud," he grunted. Why did he say that to his enemy? Oh well, time to irritate the living slag outta him. "I don't get it Vertigo, you were locked up with the rest of the Injustice League, how come you aren't in Belle Reve with the rest of your putrid pals?"

Vertigo smiled. "As a member of the Latavin royal family, I have diplomatic immunity. As long as no crimes against Lativa can be proven against me."

"But when the Queen needed a heart Cold Count Soulless saw opportunity knock! The ice fortresses were all part of the plan to murder you niece! And you got someone just as heartless as you to stall me!"

"It's nice to have friends," Vertigo smiled pulling out his sword. "Now, let's see if I can kill two hearts with one blow."

"Take your best shot, Megatron already tried, but then again, he wasn't cheating like you!"

The Count growled and stopped his attack, raising his sword to stab him; which was exactly what KF was counting on. Sliding the heart away, he rolled over his injured shoulder onto his feet, happily punching the Count in the face. Was that a tooth that fell loose? Running over he slammed into the other gunmen, ignoring the growing pain from Megatron's slash.

"Enough!" Vertigo exclaimed and sent another vertigo wave at the speedster, pushing through it, Wally slammed into the count and ripped off the headpiece that gave him his power.

"Sorry Count, but you aren't worth the time," he growled running over to the heart and taking it to the doctors. "Go! Now!" he exclaimed watching the doctors leave before he finally passed out from his wounds and sheer exhaustion.

-.-

November 12

Kid Flash groaned as consciousness returned to him, looking up he glared at the man standing at the end of his hospital bed. "Count Vertigo."

"That's King Vertigo to you peasant," he sneered.

"King?"

"Perdita is dead, and the beauty of it is: I didn't lay a hand on her."

"And now no one can lay a hand on you," Wally growled.

"As King of Lativa, I'm untouchable."

"Let's test that theory!" he snarled trying to sit up, but fell back as pain shot up his side.

"Now, now little hero, you'll pull your sitches. Besides, she died on the operating table, all that planning, all that effort, neither of us had to bother with it," Vertigo stated.

"And now it must kill you to know you owe favors to Megatron and what? Five ice villians? For nothing!"

The king shrugged. "Not at all, they played their roles in my attempt to rid Lativa of Perdita, we couldn't have known it was unnecessary."

"So you still deserve credit for attempted murder?"

"It's called regicide."

KF grinned. "It's called…YOU'RE BUSTED!" he exclaimed ripping back the curtain revealing two agents, Vertigo's niece, and Orion Pax holding a recorder.

"It's called regicide," the recorder repeated.

"Count Virmir Vertigo, as Queen of Lativa, I hereby assuce you of high treason against the crown and revoke your diplomatic immunity," she said.

"No!" he exclaimed pulling out his sword.

Orion Pax pulled out a pistol and used it to block the sword, before he swept the man's feet out from under him. Pulling out a pair of handcuffs, he cuffed the man and yanked him to his feet. "Get ready for a status change, Belle Reve doesn't provide royal treatment," he stated coldly, before giving a gentle smile to Perdita. "My Queen, I hope you recover well."

"Well played children, well played, this round goes to you! And by all means allow the victory to go to your heads!" Vertigo called as the UN advisor hefted him over his shoulder and carried him out like a sack of potatoes.

Groaning, Wally got to his feet and picked up the sword the Count dropped. Sheathing it, he offered it to the queen. "Thank you, your plan worked perfectly," she said.

"Well when I woke-up and heard you were in recovery, I knew he was going to try again. Unless, A: he thought you were dead, and B: he lost that darn immunity and was sent away for good," he replied holding out the sword.

Perdita shook her head with a smile. "That sword is an heirloom to my country, not to the Count. I would be pleased for you to have it, as a reward? Or perhaps a souvenir?"

-.-

Belle Reve

Batman and Optimus stood in front of Hugo Strange, the new warden of Belle Reve. "The League failed to capture whomever was behind the attack. But our most likely suspects are Captain Cold, Killer Frost, Icicle Jr and Sr, and Mr. Freeze," Batman stated.

"That's impossible," Strange replied turning the monitor and accessing the security feeds from that timeframe. "All five were in their cells for the duration of the crisis."

Optimus and Batman looked at each other with the same bad feeling developing in their gut.

-.-

Mt. Justice

Wally set down the container for the heart on the souvenir case. He had to admit the sword was cool, but he insisted the Queen take it, showing how this one was better; to say she was surprised was an understatement, but seeing her smile in gratitiude and happiness was worth it.

"Dude! Great job! You just saved an entire country!" Erica exclaimed hugging him.

"What can I say? I'm the man," he grinned cockily.

"Dude, that is a sick birthday present!" Robin said high-fiving him as they walked out.

 _"_ _He didn't keep the sword."_

Emerald smiled as Bumblebee stepped out of the shadows. "Probably because he got something better."


	34. Downloading Data

Chapter 33

 **A/N: I just own this story! Nothing else! The OC is my friend's.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _Modulated voices_**

November 15

"OH!" Wally and Bulkhead cheered as they and the rest of the team were watching a monster truck rally.

"He was so munched!" the speedster said high-fiving the wrecker.

"Would you mind lowering the volume?" Ratchet asked entering the rec room, "I can hear it from the monitor station."

"Ratch, you need to check out this Monster Truck rally Wally went to last week," Bulkhead said.

"I got the best parts on my phone!"

"Innocent vehicles battling for the pleasure of human specators," the medic scoffed with a shiver. "Blood sport!"

"Yea!"

"Wait, I thought Cybertron had gladiators? What's the difference?" Artemis asked.

"Nothing, I find each to be equally repulsive."

"Wasn't Prime's wife a gladiator?" Superboy asked.

"Yes, she was, and she's an extremely violent person because of it," Ratchet grumbled.

"…oh."

"You know Bulkhead, instead of hiding out here, you could be helping Optimus in the field."

The wrecker snorted. "He doesn't need my help to search for some ancient educational thing-a-ma-bob."

"That thing-a-ma-bob is a Cybertronian data cylinder," he stated waving his hand and turning off the tv, much to the team's displeasure.

"Not cool Doc!"

Ratchet inogred their groaning. "There's no telling what vast intelligence it might hold. During the Golden Age dozens of these cylinders were created, each containing the sum of Cybertronian knowledge on any given subject. Medicine, culture, mythology to name a few; when the war broke out the cylinders were launched off-world to keep them as far as possible from Decepticon reach. Detecting one here on Earth is the opportunity of a lifetime!"

"So, do you think we could learn from it?" Erica asked.

"Depends on the subject," Ratchet answered glad at least one—even is she was the most annoying—was listening.

"Why?" Robin asked.

"Cybertronians are a secretive race, even what they gave to the Guardians is limited, and that was only history," Erica stated.

"But perhaps I might be able to convince Optimus to allow me to teach you, depending on how relevant the subject is to your species," the medic shrugged. "Speaking of opportunities, how did your interview with LexCorp go?"

Erica groaned. "Did 'Bee tell you?"

"Optimus."

"Ah."

"What, what interview?" Wally asked.

"A couple weeks ago Luthor stopped by our school and wanted me to write an essay to see if I was qualified for an internship at his company. I just finished it and sent it in, and he offered me the internship," she stated. "However, apparently, Orion Pax sent a copy to Bruce Wayne and I was offered an internship at Wayne Enterprises."

"Who did you pick?" Robin asked.

"Wayne of course. He has a lot more opportunities for me than Luthor, and he's not a supervillain."

"Yea, just a playboy," Artemis said as Robin, Erica, and Wally snickered.

/Ratchet! Deception ambush, send back-up!/

"Why is it all the cool stuff happens when I don't have my gear?" Artemis groaned.

"Always bring your gear to the base, that's my rule," Emerald said putting on her ring.

"Bulkhead, Emerald, Superboy, Miss Martain go!" Ratchet said.

"What about us?"

"You don't have your uniforms," he stated.

"Tup no ruo smrofinu!" Zatanna spoke and all were then in their suits. "How about now?"

"Fine, just don't get yourselves killed," he said opening the bridge.

Running through, Bulkhead slammed into a vehicon, knocking him into the cliff-wall. Superboy leapt over and punched the unfortunate Con unconscious, before turning to see that the wrecker had moved onto another Con.

Bumblebee did a back-hand spring a punched a vehicon in the face. "Need a hand?" Emerald asked lifting the Con up in the air.

Behind his mask, he grinned. Pulling out his sword he crouched under the squirming Decepticon. _"Drop him."_ Releasing the Con in her grasp, Emerald watched as 'Bee leapt up and sliced through the Con with little issue.

Optimus and Knockout exchanged rapid punches, lifting the vain man into the air, the Prime hurled him back. Where Aqualad used his water ropes to electrocute him. "Stand your ground, we cannot let the artifact fall into enemy hands," Optimus cautioned.

"That must be it," Zatanna said spotting a large cylandar. Arcee ran at the artifact when Arachnid tackled her out of the way. "Girb siht redips ot eht dnuorg!"

Arachnid cried out as her legs and arms bound to her sides, and she fell to the ground. Smirking Arcee lifted her arch-rivial and tossed her face-first into the cliff. "Hope that broke her nose," she muttered before getting tackled by another Vehicon.

Zatanna ran out to help her, casting more spells, some which worked, others which put the Cons in unfortunate situations. One was doing the disco, another was bashing his head on the cliff, one was in the cliff, two were hugging each other staring creepily into each other's eyes, a poor vehicon lied on the ground tied up, there was one guy yodeling, about five more were riverdancing, and then there was one other running around singing random Disney songs at the top of his lungs.

"Wonder if that was intentional?" Emerald muttered videoing the event.

"Come to papa!" Knockout exclaimed charging at the relic.

Bulkhead ran over and tossed Knockout to Emerald, who held a baseball bat and shot him to Superboy, who then punched him to the ground where Kid Flash graffitied all over his finish before running off. "Run to mommy," Wally quipped before Breakdown lifted him by his hair.

"Say uncle!" he said before Miss Martian used her telikenesis to send him into Bulkhead's wrecking ball.

Artemis and Robin ran over to the cylinder while everyone else fought. "Any idea how to move this thing? Its width is almost to my waist!" Artemis snapped.

"I'm working on it!" Robin replied. "Hey Doc!"

/What is it?/

"We have your stupid data-thing, can you send a bridge so we can get it outta here?" A bridge opened at the arrival spot. "Can you get it any closer?"

/Supply coordinates/

"Working on it!" Robin said typing away on his holo-glove.

"About fifty yards!"

/Precise coordinates/

"Hurry up!"

"No time! We'll have to try rolling it!" Robin said getting up. Pushing it the deviced clicked and started glowing as some metal spikes came off the top.

"WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" they exclaimed.

Breakdown charged at them, but Bulkhead tackled him out of the way. "Not on my watch!" he growled.

The ex-bot knocked him back, before M'gann shot him into Superboy's fist.

Bulkhead landed in front of the red orb on the relic, getting up a red beam shot out of hit, making contact with his head. Groaning the man fainted.

"You really took one for the team?" Knockout said lifting the cylinder and he and Breakdown ran into the groundbridge before it disappeared.

"Bulkhead, are you—?" Optimus began.

"Fine," Bulkhead reassured.

-.-

Autobot Base

"I helped lose that thing! I wanna help find it," Bulkhead declared trying to get up off the medical berth. "I need to get back into the field with Prime."

"Pit no, you're under my watch now. Optimus' orders," Ratchet said pushing him back down. "And running a full scan of your neural net would be a better use of your time."

Bulkhead removed the electrode attached to his head. "C'mon Doc, there's nothing up there to scan," he chuckled.

"He seems fine to me," Wally stated.

"Fine, if you insist on making use of yourselves," the medic said going into a closet and pulling out cleaning tools, "you can all tidy-up."

"He's mad with power!" Kid groaned.

Bulkhead laughed taking the mop. "That's ol' Hatchet. No vector squared alright."

"Huh?"

"Hey, we have any paint around here?" Bulkhead asked and Erica perked up.

"What kind? Wall paint is in the storage room, if you need painting supplies, 'Bee has a bunch in his room," she said.

-.-

Nemesis

"What do you mean it's empty?" Megatron growled.

"Lord Megatron, these cylinders are not unlike batteries, the data stored within is a form of energy," Knockout explained, "it scanned fully charged—that's how we found it in the first place—but now…"

"Dead battery," Breakdown supplied.

"Did you drop it you one-eyed oaf?!"

"No way! I didn't want to touch it after it zapped Bulkhead!"

"Hey…you don't think…"

"I know," Megatron sneered, "and I must find out what that vessel contained. When it comes to the secrets of the Ancients, knowledge is power."

-.-

Base

"Doc, you need to see this," Conner said running up to the medic.

"Yes, I'm sure one hasn't truly lived until one has seen Bulkhead's take on still life with lugnuts," he muttered fallowing the clone.

"He's been acting weird, and that's coming from me," Wally said.

"The differential of one-third R is RDRR…" Bulkhead recited as he painted away on one of Bumblebee's sketchpads.

"That is not art, it's science."

"You lost me," Emerald said.

"I need to contact Optimus."

-.-

"See this hotspot?" Ratchet asked showing a scan of Bulkhead's brain. "It's information, data, living energy."

"So wait? This is alive and it's in Bulkhead's brain?" Zatanna asked.

"Chill kids, the data's only inhabiting a fraction of my brain, infinitesimal by standard neural net densities," the wrecker replied. "Wait…how do I know that?"

"Based on what we witnessed during our skirmish, the living data must've been programmed to eject when it sensed unauthorized access," Optimus stated.

"A security measure," Robin stated.

"It would've jettisoned heavenward, lost the the stars."

"Except my fat-head got in the way!"

I wouldn't be proud of that comment Bulk," Artemis stated.

"Every 'Con there made a grab for it, but the cylinder doesn't do anything till Artemis and Robin touch it?" Emerald asked.

"The cylinders originated from the Golden Age, predating the Autobot/Decpticon division," Ratchet replied.

"So basically only non-Cybertronian life forms would be considered a threat," Batman said.

 _"_ _Great, so what the pit is he doing in my sketchbook? I know science, and I have no clue what this is,"_ 'Bee said passing the pad to Ratchet.

"I'm not sure if this is genius or gibberish, and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but—if I'm correct—these equations appear to be the formula for a synthetic energon."

 _"_ _You mean we wouldn't need to mine for deposits anymore?!"_

"Talk about the motherload!" Erica said as they high-fived.

"I'm confused," Zatanna said. "What's energon?"

"Energon is our feul, ammo, and life source," Arcee stated. "And the natural stuff is in short supply on your world, having a synthetic form would solve a lot of problems."

"Such as providing us with the edge we need to turn the tide of this war," Prime mused.

"Or handing us the key for revitalizing Cybertron," Ratchet smiled.

"How often does my noggin save the day?" Bulkhead smiled before taking the pad and continuing his notes. "Intersection of atomic coordinates indicate convergent tertiary structures…"

"You done yet?" Wally groaned as they watched Bulkhead work.

"…resulting in an asymmetric…"

"I've gotta admit, it's weird seeing Bulk in Brainiac mode," Arcee said.

"I'm not sure this is a sight I could get used to," Black Canary agreed.

"…vector L1 norm squared. Energon temperatures and volume proportion…"

"Hey Bulk, how 'bout a round of Super Smash Bros?" Conner asked.

"…angle trisector construction…"

Bumblebee walked over and took the book, ripping out the finished page, he handed it back and walked into the medbay. _"Got more,"_ he said.

Ratchet and Optimus nodded from where they stood at one of the monitors examining the brain scan. "This is Bulkhead's neural net as you saw it earlier," he said before switching slides, showing a new scan. One where the red had spread out more. "This one was taken mere minutes ago. It is as I feared; the data is actively and aggressively rewriting Bulkhead's neural net. I had hoped he was purging the data, but he seems to be merely transcribing it as it…"

"Consumes his mind," Optimus filled in with a dark look.

"From all indications, by the time Bulkhead completes the formula, his own thoughts and memories will have been wiped clean."

 _"_ _But if we stop him there's no synth-en."_

"You assume we have means of stopping him, we don't exactly have access to the wisdom of the Ancients," Ratchet scoffed snatching the paper out of the teen's hand.

"I will not allow one of our own to be sacrificed, no matter the cost," Optimus resolved.

 _"_ _Maybe since the data transmitted itself from the cylinder, maybe we could transmit it out of his head?"_ 'Bee suggested.

"Or, perhaps, back into the cylinder," Ratchet said.

 _"_ _Doc, in case you forgot we don't exactly have the cylinder. Last I checked it was the with the 'Cons. So how are we going to get it back?"_

"Simple, Megatron will bring it to us," Optimus stated.

-.-

"Coefficient quotient of the subset amplified…"

"I'll give you amplified," Wally muttered putting in Guitar Hero.

"…proving Preceptor's Paradox is nothing of the kind."

"Two. Three. Four!" Erica said as they started jamming out to the loudest song there was.

"What is that?!"

"Guitar Hero, you love this game."

"I'm trying to concentrate!" he snapped.

"You know, you're starting to sound exactly like Ratchet," Artemis snapped.

"Who?"

They looked at each other before running to the medic. "Ratchet, Bulkhead's losing his mind, he said he didn't remember you," Conner said.

"You already know, don't you?" Zatanna asked seeing the worried look on the medic's face.

"We didn't want to frighten you, but we are working on a solution," he stated.

"But when Bulk's done spitting out that formula, he'll go back to being himself right?" M'gann asked.

Ratchet looked down, giving them their answer.

-.-

Nemesis

"Lord Megatron, we've detected a familiar energy profile," Knockout said.

"The data?"

"Bulkhead must've left the shielded radius of their base. Breakdown and I will—"

"Fail me again?" Megatron interrupted. "I shall do it myself."

-.-

Unknown location

Megatron and several vehicons transformed, landing on the ground. Standing up he saw the Autobots in their own vehicular armor. "Optimus, you're certainly not the Autobot I expected to find here," Megatron said, "but let me guess; you rigged a transponder to mimic the frequency of the data I seek."

"Megatron, I have a proposal."

The Decepticons brought out their weapons, but the Warlord raised a hand and they lowered them. "I'm listening."

"Surrender the cylinder, and I will return it to you fully restored."

"This trinket right here?" Megatron asked holding it. "And pray tell, what trifiles did it hold that you are so anxious to give away?"

"Accept my terms and you will find out."

 **-.-**

Base

"Remember the time we watched Wheeljack lob that grenade into the Decepticon heat-exchanger?" Conner asked trying to get a response from the wrecker.

"Who?"

"Wheeljack! You're best friend! Besides us of course!" Emerald said holding out a picture that they printed off for her.

"Do you even know who we are?" Artemis asked.

"Of course…you're…equivalent to the flattening of the oblate spheroid to the nth power, internal energy of the isolated E remains constant," he said starting to write again.

"I'll take that," Ratchet said taking another page from the sketchpad.

"I have an idea, you guys wanna try?" Wally asked.

"Sure, why not?" Robin said. Whispering something into his ear, the Boy Wonder grinned and ran off dragging Zatanna with him.

Wally grabbed the stetchpad and ran towards the bridge. "C'mon! You wanna finish that formula, don't you?"

-.-

Unknown Location

"Do you accept my proposal?" Optimus asked.

/Lord Megatron/ Knockout called.

"Give me a moment," he said turning away.

/Did you find what you were looking for?/

"It's complicated."

/Well, Breakdown and I may have located the bogey, fully charged/

"Proceed."

/Just one problem, we don't have the cylinder/

"Then bring me the head of Bulkhead."

-.-

Monster Truck Arena

"Remember this Bulkhead? We went to the show here last week," Erica asked.

"…Mass times the diffusion rate squared is constant."

"Is any of this ringing a bell?" Conner asked.

"Bell curve? No, no, no, that wouldn't factor in," Bulkhead replied and the clone smacked his forehead.

"How about our Sunday-morning dune bashing?" Kid Flash asked.

"Rocking out to Guitar Hero?" M'gann tried.

"Sparring during our freetime?" Superboy suggested.

"We're not getting anywhere with this," Aqualad sighed.

"The cube root of the exothermis energon yield of delta E violates Clank's Law of Energon Conservation."

"Aw, how cute, I'm shedding lubricant," Breakdown sneered from where he and Knockout stood in their giant armor.

"Come with us right now or these guys are going to…steal the formula!" Artemis exclaimed.

"My equations!" Bulkhead exclaimed fallowing Artemis as she and Aqualad ran out.

"KF you got the graffiti ready?" Emerald asked.

"Yep!"

"Lord Megatron we're good," Knockout said, like kids could be a problem.

-.-

"Optimus, upon careful consideration, if you want the cylinder, you'll have to take it," Megatron grinned.

The vehicons began firing and the Autobots pulled out their own weapons. Ducking behind a rock, Bumblebee sniper-shot two vehicons as Arcee and Optimus held their attention.

Shooting down the last of his troops, Megatron growled. "Well, in that case, no one gets it," he snarled crushing the cylinder. Transforming he flew off before the Autobots could retaliate.

/Optimus, Bulkhead and the team have abandoned base. I have their groundbridge coordinates/

"Bridge us back immediately!"

-.-

"I've always wanted to do this!" Emerald exclaimed making a giant construct of a transformer. "BANZAI!"

Breakdown grunted as the construct slammed into him, pushing back against it, his fell back as Superboy knocked his feet out from under him. "Hold still please!" Wally grinned before painting on the ex-Autobot.

Knockout charged at Emerald before he was lifted-up into the air telekinetically, and tossed through one of the arena walls. "Oops," Miss M said wincing.

"Souvenir!" Kid said taking a selfie with Breakdown who now had a poorly painted smiley face on his face.

Getting to his feet Knockout chased after the two teens and Bulkhead, slamming him to the ground, he was shoved off when paint ended up on his finish. "I just fixed this!"

"Too bad!" Artemis growled firing an arrow. It exploded, covering his face in dense foam, making him drop Bulkhead as he attempted to rip it off.

Kaldur ran over, rolling out of the way as Knockout's pede almost crushed him, his hand accidentally smacking Bulkhead's head.

Eyes glowing red, the data shot out into space as it detected the alien touch.

"HAVE A NICE FLIGHT!" Emerald shrieked as Breakdown flew through the air, landing on his partner.

"Megatron's going to have our heads for losing that data," Knockout grumbled as they got to their feet.

"So we're just going to have to take yours," Breakdown finished as the groundbridge opened and the rest of the Autobots stormed out.

"Or perhaps tear outta here," Knockout said transforming and driving away, fallowed quickly by his still dazed partner.

-.-

Base

The team, the Autobots, and a few members of the League sat anxiously in the rec-room waiting for news on Bulkhead's condition. Walking in Ratchet raised his hand to stop the potential barrage of questions no doubt about to start flying. "The data has been completely expunged, however, Bulkhead remains completely unresponsive…"

"And it's all our fault," Artemis said. "We knocked into his head again, sending the data, and his mind up to the stars."

"It is because of our mistake that you will not get the rest of the formula," Kaldur concurred.

"It is your quick thinking that kept the formula from falling into Decepticon hands," Optimus said.

"If anyone would've backed that play, it's Bulk," Arcee stated.

"It is simply too early to know the extent of his condition, something as simple as a familiar sight or smell, perhaps even a sound could trigger his awakening," Ratchet explained.

Hearing that Wally shot to his feet and put on Guitar Hero. "Wally, now's not the time…" Robin began.

"Dude, just trust me," he replied putting on a song.

In the medbay, Bulkhead groaned. "Wally! You're off-key again!"

"Bulkhead!" the team exclaimed hugging him.

"Geez guys, what did I miss?" he asked with a laugh.

"Nothing much, just don't go sticking your head into laserbeams anytime soon," Artemis snickered.

 **A/N: alright, I know, not my best chapter, but hey! I made it work!**


	35. Stopping a Coup

Chapter 34

 **A/N: I just own this story, none of the characters are mine!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee's modulator_**

Mt. Justice November 22

"Keep up slowpoke!" Wally taunted as he, Robin, Bumblebee, and Emerald played Mario Kart.

"You mean like this?" Erica sneered as she slammed Yoshi with a turtle shell.

"Hey!" he whined as his kart spun off course and off a cliff.

Robin laughed at his friend as he drove Mario past. "Maybe you shouldn't be so cocky Erica," he cackled as he smacked into her and sent his thunder cloud to her driving off as Princess Rosalina was electrocuted.

"DICK!" she screamed in anger as he laughed before all their karts froze and began crashing into each other. "WHAT?!"

"OH C'MON!"

"IT WASN'T ME!"

On the couch, 'Bee grinned as he finished the final lap and then released all of them.

"THAT'S CHEATING!"

 _"_ _All's fair in love, war, and video games!"_

"Emerald Lantern, Robin, Kid Flash, Bumblebee, Superboy, Miss Martian, report to mission room for briefing," Optimus called over the intercom.

-.-

"Rumaan Harjavti is the democratically-elected President of Qurac," Optimus said pulling up a news-clip of him shaking hands with Bruce Wayne. "He has been praised as a fair, wise leader, a humanitarian."

"Sure, any friend of Buce Wayne and Orion Pax," Wally whispered before Robin and Bumblebee elbowed him.

"But five days ago, Harjavti allied himself with the dicator of the neighboring nation of Bialya, Queen Bee."

"Not a fan," Conner muttered.

 _"_ _Who is?"_

"Harjavti is suddenly backing Queen Bee's baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times," Optimus continued, "and has announced that the two countries will be reunifying in two days at a ceremony in Qurac."

Another video appeared and began to play. "After the ceremony, I will step down as president, so that our rightful monarch Queen Bee may rule."

It switched to a different clip, one of Queen Bee. "I applaud President Harjavti for unifying our peoples and I will gladly come to Qurac to be crowned sole leader of our nation."

"No way the Quracis are ok with this," Erica said.

"Hardly," Optimus said pulling up numerous protest images. "They're very aware of the brutatlity of Queen Bee's regime, but Harjavti is censoring the press, silencing legitimate protest and has invited the Bialyian military into his country to enforce martial law despite warnings from the UN."

"Queen Bee has to controlling Harjavti, doesn't she have the power to enthrall most men?" Robin asked.

Optimus nodded. "And some women, but not long distance. And there's confirmation that she hasn't left Bialya. There's something else going on, find out what. Aqualad is busy helping Aquaman, pick a team leader for the mission."

-.-

Qurac

"We'e right above the Quraci-Bialyan border," Robin informed.

"A border that the Bialyans are currently ignoring," Kid Flash informed. Looking out the windows they saw tanks driving over a barb-wire fence scaring a wildebeest herd.

"No opposition," Superboy muttered.

"Wouldn't expect any, this is an animal sanctuary," Emerald replied.

"The Logan Animal Sanctuary?" M'gann asked.

"You've heard of it?" Robin asked.

"Guys, tanks have caused a stampede," KF warned. "There's civilians in harms way."

"I see them. Woman and a small boy," Superboy confirmed.

"We have to help them!" Miss M exclaimed.

"We're way off mission here," Robin stated. "…Deploy, but stealth mode. If the Bialyans know we hit 'em this becomes an international incident."

Down below the tanks suddenly malfunctioned. The soldiers stopped when a bird-a-rang landed next to them and released smoke, allowing KF to go through and knock out the men.

Emerald flew in front of the woman and boy, making a shield to divert the stampede.

"Whoa…"

"Are you both alright?" Robin asked.

"Mom? Mom! Mom! We were just saved by Emerald Lantern, Robin, Kid Flash, and Bumblebee!" the boy exclaimed recognizing the four proteges.

"Superboy and Miss Martian helped too," Kid added as Conner walked up and M'gann flew down in camouflage mode before lowering her hood.

"We divereted the brainless wonders around the sanctuary, you should be safe now," Emerald grinned.

 _"_ _Though I highly doubt they'll ever get those tanks working again."_

"You may've made things worse," the woman answered. "Border crossings are a way of life here, usually they wreck a few fences and move on. Engaging them might've made us a target."

"Mom! Uncool!"

She sighed. "Sorry, I should thank you. This is my son Garflield, and I'm—"

"Marie Logan!" M'gann exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! I've—uh—admired your stance on animal rights for years."

 _"_ _You've only been on Earth six months,"_ Conner remarked and she blushed in embarrassment.

"The oryx is sick and needs to go to our clinic," Ms. Logan stated.

"The boys can do that! You and I can fix your fences!" M'gann said.

"Hey!" Emerald snapped.

"And Emerald can help the guys!"

 _"_ _Miss M, this isn't exactly…"_

"Guys!/Please mom!" they begged.

"Fine."

"Yes!"

-.-

November 23

Emerald laughed as a monkey flew down from the tree onto her cousin, stealing his protein bar and hopping onto Garfield's shoulder. "Meet Monkey."

"Good name," Superboy grumbled. "But I hate monkeys."

The protein bar hit him in the face.

 _"_ _And it looks like Monkey hates Superboys,"_ 'Bee grinned.

"Just be glad it was only a protein bar he threw," Wally laughed.

Going inside, the young heroes sat down. "So, pretty weird about Miss Martian and my mom," Garfield said.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"I mean she looks exactly like her, you know, but greener."

"Really?" KF asked.

"Yea, especially when Mom was a tv star on 'Hello Megan!'" he stated.

"Wait, that's a tv show?" Wally said

"I just thought that was something she said all the time," Robin commented.

"Yea, on the tv show, here, I'll show you," Gar said pulling out a VHS tape.

 _"_ _What in the names of the Thirteen is that?"_

"There was only one season, way before we were born, you can't even find it online," he continued.

 _"_ _Seriously? What is that?"_

"That my friend, is a VHS," Emerald clarified. "It's what was used to watch movies and shows before Netflix, Amazon, and DVDs were made."

Bumblebee just sat there staring at the ancient device, not that they could blame him, guy grew up around things so advanced that his reaction to old Earth tech was their's when they first encountered Cybertronain tech.

"So where's the 8-track?"

 _"_ _What's an 8-track?"_

"KF! That's enough confusing him for today!" Emerald snapped.

"You've never seen a VHS recorder before?" Garfield asked.

 _"_ _Do holographic recordings count?"_

"No."

 _"_ _Then no, I have not."_

Superboy stood up suddenly. "Aircraft, headed this way."

"Stay put," Robin ordered as they ran outside.

"What is it?" M'gann asked as she and Marie retruned from fixing the fences.

Emerald pointed and they saw the four drones flying towards the ranch. They began firing and Emerald made a shield, blocking the fire as it passed over them.

"Where's my son!?"

"I ordered him to stay inside," Robin said.

"He's eight! He doesn't do orders!" she snapped.

"MOM!" Garfeild called as he opened the barn, releasing the injured animals that were inside. "It's ok I got the animals out!"

The planes started firing again, some of the shots hitting the propane tanks next to the barn, making an explosion, sending the child flying.

Miss Martian flew over and caught the unconscious boy midair. Emerald flew past, making a sword, she sliced through two of the planes, when she turned to see the other two crash into each other.

Racing inside, they found Garfeild lying unconscious in bed, with an iv going into him and bandages wrapping his head. "He's in shock," Marie informed. "He needs an immediate blood transfusion, are any of you O-negative?"

"No."

"Sorry."

 _"_ _My blood is toxic to humans."_

"AB-positive, sorry."

"Neither am I, it's the hardest to match. I kept a supply in the clinic," she sighed.

"I can run him to the nearest hospital," KF offered.

"The nearest hospital his half and hour away at your top speed, only ten minutes shorter with Emerald's flight, and even longer by Bioship," Robin stated.

"He doesn't have that much time, what's Superboy's blood type?"

 _"_ _He's Kryptonian, it wouldn't match. And Miss Martian—"_

"Might be able to help," she said. "My shape-shifting occurs at the cellular level. I think I can morph my blood to match his."

"Please try."

"I'll need to concentrate, no distractions."

 _"_ _Alright, everyone out,"_ 'Bee ordered getting them out as Ms. Logan closed the door behind them.

Going to the living room, they sat down, taking in what just happened. "I can't believe this. Our actions put civilians in harm's way, we possibly just killed someone, and on top of this Harjavti steps down tomorrow," Robin ranted, "subjecting all of Qurac to this danger! Can someone turn on a news station?"

"Sure, which remote is it?" Wally asked pressing one. The tv turned on and music began playing.

 _Hello Megan!_

 _School and boys and parents too!_

 _Hold back the chuckle for miss you know who_

 _Hello Megan_

 _Hello Megan_

 _This cheerleader knows the score_

 _Center of attention and so much more_

 _Hello Megan_

 _Hello Megan_

 _A little bit distractable_

 _But never too retractactable_

 _She's really quite attacrtable_

 _Ok, a lot distractable_

 _Eventually she'll get a clue_

 _Hello Megan_

 _The girl for me_

 _The girl for you_

 _Hello Megan_

 _Hello Megan_

 _The girl for me_

 _The girl for you_

 _Hello Megan_

"Maybe it's a coincidence?" Superboy said.

 _Hello Megan_

 _Hello Megan!_

They stared as the intro ended and the show began playing.

 _"_ _Mom, I'm going to the library to study!"_

 _"_ _But didn't you invite a certain someone to study here?"_

 _The doorbell rang and the tv Megan smacked her forehead. "Hello Megan!"_

"Yea, a coincidence," Emerald said with a huge grin.

 _She ran to the door and opened it to reveal a black-haired boy. "Conner!" tv Megan exclaimed hugging him. "I thought you'd never get here!"_

 _"_ _A total coincidence,"_ 'Bee snickered as Superboy glared at him.

"It's done, all we can do now is wait," M'gann informed and Bumblebee quickly changed the channels onto a news station.

"My fellow Quracis…"

"That Harjavti?" she asked joining them.

"…Queen Bee's rule is a gift to Qurac…"

"Hey! That guy in back! The one in the hoodie! I know him," Superboy growled.

Robin pulled up the image on his glove and zoomed in on the hooded man. "It's Psimon, the psychic we fought last time we were in Bialya," Miss M stated.

"Well, he was working for Queen Butthead then, must be working for her now," Emerald growled.

"I still remember the headache from when he brain blasted us," Kid groaned.

"Speak for yourself peasants," Emerald grinned.

"You only avoided it because you were out of range!"

 _"_ _We need to get Harjavti away from him."_

"I think it worked, Garfield's stable," Ms. Logan said entering the room.

"Good, because we have our mission," Robin said.

"I'll stay just in case Queen Bee tries anything else," Emerald said.

"Got it, the rest of us will go," Robin said as they raced out to the Bioship.

-.-

Dhabar

Climbing through the vents, Robin lowered a scope down into the room they pinpointed Harjavti in. "He's alone," he said opening the vent, and they jumped down silently.

Going over, the Quraci President looked at them with glazed eyes. "Where's my daughter? Where's Psimon?"

"Forget him, let's get you outta here," Robin said.

The doors opened and soldiers wearing the Apocalyptian weapons 'Bee and Superboy dealt with earlier that year ran in.

"Well, well, American heroes," a familiar screechy voice sneered. Looking towards the main door they saw Starscream strut in with a man in a Bialyan uniform, "no doubt here to assassinate the President, such a shame that we made it too late to stop them."

"A shame indeed Commander."

 _"_ _Those are Apocolyptian weapons,"_ Superboy grumbled.

 _"_ _Which they'll use to kill Harjavti, we take the blame, and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac."_

 _"_ _Form up around the President."_

 _"_ _I found Psimon!"_ M'gann said.

 _"_ _Wait!"_

 _"_ _I'll get her!"_ Conner said.

 _"_ _No, you guys need to defend Harjavti, I'll handle Starscream, and try to find M'gann,"_ Bumblebee stated.

 _"_ _Got it."_

Starscream was completely unprepared for the scout's attack that sent him flying through the wall, and the fight began.

-.-

Logan Animal Sanctuary

Emerald stood on the roof, watching for any possible threats, so far her scans hadn't picked up anything, but she had to be careful with the amount of power she used or she'd run out, it has been a couple days since she last charged her ring.

Hearing something, she flew up and saw the familiar blue glow of a groundbridge just at the edge of the property. Flying over she got into a battle stance, making a sword construct as Megatron walked out through the glowing vortex.

"Well, well, did your little sidekick friends leave you here all alone?" he asked with a smirk.

"Not at all buckethead, I just decided to hang back to just in case you showed your ugly mug," she retorted.

Growling, Megatron unleashed his blade, and lunged at the girl. Jumping back, Emerald leapt at him, intending to swing down on his head, when he parred her sword. Flying over, she ducked under several cannon shots, and made a shield which used used to slam into him.

Stabbing his blade into the ground, Megatron landed on his feet, creating small trenches from where his feet and blade drug through the dirt.

He rolled out of the way, as the Lantern flew at him again, grabbing her ankle he slammed her into the ground.

Seeing the sword coming down on her head, she rolled out of the way, making her own shield and sword construct as she prepared for another round.

"You certainly aren't as weak as those other pathetic copies," Megatron grinned, "but I wonder how much longer this battle will last? Your ring will run out of energy soon enough."

"And you'll run out of steam," she huffed.

"Perhaps, but I can fight for days on end, humans have such short sleep-wake cycles compared to Cybertronians," he grinned wickedly. "But then again, if I kill you, you'll never learn what's going on with your dear friend, the scout."

Emerald frowned. "What?"

"I'm sure you of all people know something's not quite right about him, how he lost his memory of what happened that Halloween night," he said smiling when he saw the look of horror on her face. "That's right, I know what he did, and what's going on with him; he and I did share a mindscape for some time. You could say I helped cause it." Emerald winced as he grabbed her wrists—she didn't even see him move—his red eyes bore into her. "And if you want to know what's going on, you're going to do exactly as I say. If you don't who's to say something else won't happen, or that little secret about your ring won't get out."

-.-

Dhabar

'Bee flipped back as Starscream attempted to gut him with his claws. Pulling out a sword, he blocked the seeker's claws, and used his gun to blast him back.

Getting to his feet, Starscream fired a missile, which 'Bee grabbed midair, and swung it back at the sender. Starscream cried out and ducked under the missile, which exploded on the hillside behind him. "Soundwave! Get me a bridge!"

The portal opened nearby and the Decepticon SIC ran towards it.

 _"_ _Get back here you coward!"_ 'Bee challenged as he chased after. Swallowing his pride, Starscream ran through, the vortex closing behind him. Skidding to a stop, Bumblebee growled and put the blade back in his subspace. _"The guys!"_ Racing back inside, he saw that Harjavti and his daughter were safe, meaning that the others left to help M'gann with Psimon.

He could see the mass of wind swirling around the dueling psychics, tossing papers, furniture, dirt, and some other objects throughout the room. Spotting his teammates, he ran over and knelt next to them, they were unconscious, most likely knocked out by Psimon. One by one, he began dragging his friends back from the fight, into another hall.

Just as he set Conner down, he heard a scream, racing back in he saw Psimon blasted back. the dust cleared showing M'gann…just not in the way he was used to, she was in her true Martian form, her white coloring contrasting from the green he was expecting.

 _"_ _M'gann?"_

The Martian girl turned back to the green, red-headed girl he was familiar with. "How much did you see?" she asked.

 _"_ _Enough,"_ he replied kneeling next to Psimon.

"You aren't going to tell the others are you?" she asked, obviously freaking out.

 _"_ _About what? Your true Martian form, or the fact it looks like you just put Psimon into a catatonic state?"_ he asked corssing his arms. She looked down in shame, and he put a hand on her shoulder. _"Hey, I'm ok with you telling the others about your real form when you're ready, but turning someone into a vegitable is crossing the line ok? Just promise me this was a one-time thing."_

"It was I swear! It was the only way I could take him down!" she exclaimed.

 _"_ _Alright, alright, c'mon, let's go to the others before they wake up,"_ he said leading her to where he set them.

Just in time to, because they started regaining consciousness. "And there's the headache," Kid Flash moaned.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

"Psimon brain blasted you guys, I stopped him," she stated.

"What about Starscream?" Superboy asked.

 _"_ _Coward fled halfway through the fight."_

-.-

"What do you mean the President won't see me? He invited me!" Queen Bee exclaimed as she stood outside the Presidential manor.

"NOT ON MY OWN FREE WILL! NO! BUT NOW THAT I AM FREE OF YOU MINION'S THRALL, THE QURACI PEOPLE WILL NEVER SUFFER YOUR TYRANNICAL RULE!" Harjavti exclaimed and the people cheered.

"Mark my words Harjavti! Qurac will be mine!" she exclaimed storming off.

Going inside, M'gann turned back into herself. "Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that, but I couldn't think of any other way to show that Queen Bee was the one responsible," Robin apologized.

"Dude, saving a country, pretty big win for your first turn as leader," KF said.

"We didn't really establish a leader, it's mostly been bouncing between 'Bee and I," Robin said looking down.

-.-

Logan Animal Sanctuary

"I assure you that the Wayne Foundation and UN is here to do whatever it can to help you and your people rebuld Qurac," Bruce Wayne said as he and Orion Pax shook hands with President Harjavti.

Wally turned off the tv with a smirk. "Gee, I know why Orion got here so fast, but I wasn't expecting Bruce Wayne, it was almost like he—ow!" he winced rubbing his arm from where his cousin punched him.

"Don't you have a souvenir to collect or something?" she grumbled.

"Hello Megan," he said rushing over and grabbing the video before holding it in front of M'gann. "Something you want to tell us?"

Megan sighed and looked at all her teammates. "Growing up on Mars was not a happy time for me. but I started watching the broadcasts my uncle sent from Earth to teach us about our sister planet. And when I saw Hello Megan, something just clicked; maybe it was the similarities in our names, maybe it was how all Megan's problems could be solved in twenty-two minutes; all I know for sure is, Megan helped me get through a lonely childhood. So when I came to Earth, and had to pick a human form, I chose you…well, Megan."

"Which begs the question: what do you really look like?" Robin asked.

M'gann looked at 'Bee who just shrugged, but she noticed that both his and Emerald's eyes softened slightly. Standing up her hair vanished, leaving her bald.

"Bald M'gann, still hot," Kid said.

Conner got up and took her hand. "You don't have to put on a mask for me."

"I do it for me," she said bringing back her hair, "this is who I am, inside. Please don't be mad."

"Mad? I'm honored," Marie smiled. "M'gann you saved my son, he says he's you blood brother now, and I agree, you're family."

"Thank you," she said hugging her, "you can't know what that means to me."

-.-

M'gann walked towards Garfield's room, they were about to leave, and she wanted to say goodbye before they left. "Garfield?" she whispered just in case he was asleep before freezing in place. Lying next to him on the bed, was none other than Queen Bee.

"Shh, it would be a shame to wake him," she said stroking his head, "I might have to order my little thrall here to damage himself." M'gann's eyes turned green as she prepared to attack her. "Uh-uh, he already has orders to do that if anything happens to me. Now, your performance, a bit over the top I think, but then again, you haven't perfected me as you have the role of Megan." Getting up she walked over to the frozen girl. "That's right, Psimon isn't the only one who knows your true form, and if you don't cooperate, I'll make sure everyone knows what you really are."


	36. Stronger, Faster, Studlier

Chapter 35

 **A/N: alright, I just own this story! Nothing else! Hope y'all have an awesome Thanksgiving!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _"_** ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"_** ** _Modulated voices_**

November 25, Autobot Base

"Surprisingly stable," Ratchet noted gazing at the molecules of the most recent formula he tested.

"Hey Doc, what'cha workin' on?" Robin asked.

"Is that the synthetic energon?" Wally asked.

"Yes, in fact I'm just about done preparing a test sample," he stated. "Go grab a pair of protective goggles from the cabinet right over there."

"Whoa!"

"Sweet!"

Going over they haistily put on the goggles and ran back over to where Ratchet pulled out a machine they'd never seen before. "Now, we just add some to this test engine…" he trailed off and they watched as the systems glowed green and began running.

"It works!" Wally said.

"Not quite yet, this iteration of the formula requires further trail, before we can even consider using it as fuel, ammunition or first aid…which is unfortunate since our own reserves are at an all-time low," Ratchet sighed. "Our severely outnumbered warriors have been burning through our stockpile rapidly as of late, as the Decpticon army and other villians continue to run us ragged and grind us down. Natural energon is in very short supply on your world, and Megatron seems to have his claws buried deep in all Earth's significant deposits. However, if we can produce a synthetic form, we can manufacture all the energy we'll ever need."

The monitor began beeping and they walked out to the main room. "More energon on the move," Aree stated.

"Again?" Bulkhead huffed.

"Their recent activity suggests a familiar pattern, the Decepticons are desperately scouting for new deposits to mine," Optimus said.

 _"_ _Good to see we're not the only ones in trouble,"_ 'Bee said running a hand through his hair.

"Autobots…"

"Optimus, if one of you comes back wounded this time…well, our energon reserves are nearly depleted," Ratchet stated.

"Understood, activate the groundbridge," he replied with a solem nod. "Autobots! Roll-out!"

Getting into their vehicles, the group sped out of base. With a heavy sigh, Ratchet closed the bridge. "Sometimes, I wish I could do more."

"You need help with anything?" Zatanna asked.

"No, no, you all can go hang out, I just have some cleaning up to do," Ratchet replied going back into his office. Grabbing one of the vials, he attached it to the syringe, and carefully inserted it into his own arm, injecting himself with the material. Groaning, he dropped it and fainted.

-.-

"Doc!"

"Doc!"

"RATCHET WAKE UP!"

Opening his eyes, he looked to see most of the team kneeling next to him. "You ok?" Conner asked helping the medic to his feet.

"Fine, I'm…" trailing off he moved the arm he hurt in the battle against the zombies, which had been harder to move ever since, "more than fine." Pulling up his scanner he looked at the results. "Energy efficiency is up thirty-percent? Motor funtions optimal? Any word from the others?"

"Not yet," Robin replied.

-.-

Unknown Caynon

"Knockout! Can't we just bridge outta here?" Breakdown asked as they drove ahead of the pursuing Autobots. "This cube's putting some serious drag on me."

"The more we give the Autobots a run, the more fuel thet burn, and we win the energon race," he replied checking his rear-view mirror. "Besides, here comes air support."

Multiple vehicons flew down, firing missiles, which flew past the bots, towards the cliff. Hitting the rocky walls, a rockslide began, allowing the Cons to pass through safely.

Arcee growled and sped ahead, drving through the falling rocks, ignoring the smaller pieces that scraped her armor. Transforming, she jumped onto the larger pieces as they came down, and vaulted herself on one before going back into her bike-mode, still giving chase.

On the other side of the rock-fall, the rest transformed and slid to a stop, looking up to see the Cons still gaving chase. "Arcee! Fall back, you're outnumbered," Optimus ordered.

Arcee growled, she was so close. "Sorry Optimus, we're always outnumbered, we need that energon," she replied.

"Ratchet, lock onto Arcee's coordinates and prepare an emergency groundbridge," Prime commanded.

/Locked on. Arcee, decelerate and prepare to return to base/

"Save it Ratchet, I'm too close," she replied.

/Don't be a fool!/

The Cons in the sky lowered in altitude, before firing more missiles. Weaving through the incoming shots, she barely missed being blown up, until one landed right behind her and sent her and her bkie flying. Slamming into the ground, she was thrown off and sent rolling arcoss the ground as her bike skid away.

-.-

"She's hurt," Ratchet said. "Robin, man the groundbridge." Activating the bridge the medic got into his vehicle.

"Maybe we can—!"

"Stay here!" he ordered glaring at Emerald before driving through.

"He's no fun," Erica huffed crossing her arms.

-.-

"Ugh," Arcee moaned as she got to her knees, some of her hair falling loosely around her face as it came loose from her helmet. The ground shook around her, and the vehicons landed. One approached, aiming his weapon at her execution-style.

Up in the air the bridge opened releasing Ratchet, transforming midair, he landed on the offending Con. Grabbing another he used him as a shield and brought out his blades. Stabbing the shield, he tossed him into another con, and stabbed through another, rolling under a shot and doing a jump-kick, before rushing over and vaulting over two, using his blades to stab through them. Doing a back-handspring, he jumped off another Con grabbed his head, and twisting in the air, snapping the neural netting in the suit.

"Looks like the Autobots brought in a ringer," Knockout commented.

"Well then I'll ring his bell," Breakdown growled. As he was about to charge, more shots rained dwon from the top of the cliff where the rest of the team had finally climbed over the rockpile.

"It'll have to wait," Knockout said as the drove off.

Bumblebee got out of his car ran over and picked up Arcee as Bulkhead got her bike. Looking over they saw Ratchet with his foot placed proudly on a corpse as one approached behind him, which he knocked out out with just one punch. "Hoo-ah."

-.-

Base

"So what happened?" Artemis asked as they walked in.

"We only saw the gory aftermath, but I hear the Doc was one-man army," Bulkhead grinned as they got out of their vehicles.

"Alright Ratch, what's your secret?" Arcee asked.

"No secret," he said picking up a green tube, "just a little somethin' I like to call synthen."

"From the data Bulkhead transcribed? Wasn't the formula incomplete?" Megan asked.

"Not anymore."

 _"_ _Guess it works,"_ 'Bee said as the passed the vial around.

"So Doc makes a better tough guy than I do a smart guy?" Bulkhead whined handing it off to Prime.

"Ratchet, I question the wisdom of using yourself as a test subject," Optimus stated.

"Prime, you didn't see the Doc out there, he was in overdrive," Arcee defended. "We should all try this stuff."

"Or give Ratchet more so we can take a vacation," Bulkhead smiled.

"I agree that the initial results seem promising, but I recommend that further testing be confined to machines, not Autobots," Optimus declared handing back the vial to Ratchet. "We may be outnumbered old friend, we need a warrior in the laboratory right now more than we need another in the field."

-.-

"And then he came right at me! And I…well, c'mon Bulk, come at me," Ratchet said as he was telling the story to the team.

"I don't wanna hurt you Ratch," he said holding his hands up with a nervous smile.

Ratchet smacked him upside the head. "I said come at me!"

"C'mon Bulk!" Conner cheered.

"You can do it!" Wally grinned pumping his fist in the air.

Bulkhead growled and brought out his wrecking ball from his subspace, charging the medic, Ratchet ducked under and lifted him into the air, using his momentum to toss him through the wall, where the wrecker landed on his back with his knees by his head.

"Whoa…"

"C'mon boys, you shouldn't back down from a fight," Bulkhead said glaring at Conner and Wally.

"Sometimes you can," Conner said.

"But this isn't one of those moments!" Wally grinned as they fist bumped each other.

A split second later both were laying next to Bulkhead in the same positon.

"What was that?" Arcee asked as she and Bumblebee turned the corner.

"You three have competition, I'm a bit stronger than is used to be," Ratchet grinned. "Also a bit faster!" He shot out his fist, and Bumblebee reflexively leaned back. "Think you can take me speedy?"

 _"_ _No thanks man, I'm sure these three have already proven your point."_

"Wimp," Ratchet huffed before winking at Arcee. "How's it hummin'?"

"Did he just…"

"'Bee, you alright?" Robin asked seeing the scout turn a little green at that.

"I have to say, I'm with him on that," Emerald said looking a little green herself.

"Stronger."

"Fatser."

"Studlier."

"No kidding."

Ratchet walked down the hall and grabbed another vial of synthen. "I need to be at the top of my game, our survival depends upon it," he said injecting himself with more.

The team went to the main room as the monitor went off. "Looks like the Cons hit another vein," Arcee growled.

"Superboy, Miss Martian, Emerald, you shall accompany us on this mission," Optimus said.

"Whoa wait, shouldn't we wait for our secret weapon?" Bulkhead asked.

"This mission is unlikely to require medical expertise," Prime replied.

"But you never know if it may require more muscle," Racthet scoffed. "Bumblebee can manage groundbridge duty."

 _"_ _Uh…what?"_

"Time to put some hurt on the Cons!"

 _"_ _Dad? Are you really going through with this? Ratch's been acting weird since he's taken that synthen stuff,"_ Bumblebee asked through the bond.

 _"_ _I know, I'll be watching him closely, keep close to the controls and keep your comm open, I have a feeling we'll be sending him back sooner than later."_

-.-

Nevada Desert

Ratchet ran ahead of the group, skidding down the field fast and agile enough to give Bumblebee a run for his money. Ducking behand the rocks, Bulkhead looked at the scanner.

"Signal's weak. They may've hit a vein, but they won't get much of an energon pulse, not here," he sighed.

"I take comfort in the fact that ol' Buckethead is as desperate as we are," Emerald said.

"Do you guys always talk this much on missions?" Ratchet huffed before he leapt off the cliff, down towards the group of miners.

"Autobots!"

Ratchet landed on one, ripping of the Con's helmet and pulled out a weapon from his subspace. "It's alright, I'm the medic!"

The others shot at the Cons as they ran down; picking up Superboy, Emerald tossed him at two cons, where he punched one, leapt off and tossed the other towards her, where she made a baseball bat contstruct and swatted him away. M'gann flew over and tossed two more into the cliffside, ducking and avoiding shots as they came at her.

"That's what I call a home run!" she smiled before going towards the drill to dig out the energon as Ratchet chased after the Con running away.

"Emerald? Where's Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"NO! NO! NOOO!"

"I guess that answers it," Conner said as they jumped up to the top.

"THAT'S ALL I KNOW! I SWEAR!"

Bulkhead and Arcee pulled the teens behind them as they saw Ratchet torturing the Con.

"Now was that so hard?" Ratchet asked pulling his welder away from the vehicon's face. Pulling out his blade, Optimus raced forwards, and grabbed his arm before he could execute him.

"Ratchet! What are you doing?!"

"Getting results," he growled as the injured Cybertronian got to his feet and sprinted away.

"And breaking protocol," Prime reminded, "that was a Decepticon miner, servant class, not warrior class."

"Oh and let me guess, I'm just the medic."

"Autobots do not inflict harm unless all other possibilities are exhausted," Optimus stated. "It is what separates us from the Decepticons."

Ratchet scoffed. "Last I checked your wife didn't fallow that rule! Besides, is this really the time for another lecture Prime? You didn't just learn Megatron's location did you? Well I did! And do you know where there's a stockpile of fresh energon? I do!"

"C'mon Ratch, calm down," Bulkhead said, glancing back at Conner, who was staring in shock at the normally grumpy medic.

"CALM IS THE LAST THING WE NEED! CALM IS WHAT LOST US CYBERTRON! THE 'CONS HAVE A WARSHIP! AN ARMY! ALL THIS ENERGON SCOUTING! YOU DON'T THINK MEGATRON ISN'T PLANNING SOMETHING BIG?! WE'RE SQUANDERING OUR RESOURCES, CHASING AFTER PETTY CRIMIANLS AND ENERGON BREADCRUMBS, WHEN WE SHOULD BE HITTING MEGATRON HARD AND HTTING HIM NOW! PRECISELY WHERE IT HURTS."

"A direct assult would only provoke retaliation," Optimus said, "and lead to incalculable losses. I will not endanger the lives of the League, the team, and innocent civilians."

"Yet you have no problem endangering our own lives! Just ask Cliffjumper! Oh wait, he's dead!"

"That's it!" Arcee snapped before both Emerald and M'gann flew up in front of her.

"Arcee! Don't!" Miss M pleaded before both girls were pulled back behind her and Bulkhead.

"You know your problem Optimus, for such a big, strong man, you're soft. You didn't pound Megatron into scrap when you had the chance! Many chances in fact! Neither did Solarflare! Especially after what he did to Bumblebee! He'd say he agreed with me—oh wait! He can't _say_ anything anymore!"

The team took a step back as Prime's features darkened. "I'm afraid that the synthetic energon has impared your judgement Ratchet. You are confined to base until further notice. Bumblebee, bridge us back."

 _/Got it/_

The bridge opened and Ratchet sighed as he saw the others looking at him to go first. Storming through, he saw the scout standing next to the bridge, with his arms crossed and the team on the platform near the monitors. "What? You're looking at me like I did something wrong."

 _"_ _You did, you tortured someone,"_ 'Bee growled.

"Please, as if you haven't tortured people before scout! I know what you did to get info on those long undercover missions, or wait, perhaps you're weak like your father and let them go!" Ratchet snapped, socking 'Bee in the jaw, before racing back through the bridge. His ambulance drove towards him and he sped out, nearly running over Superboy and Bulkhead in the process.

"M'gann! Let's go!" Emerald said. "Prime we'll keep our comms open keep track of him just in case he scrambles his signal!" The two girls flew off, and the rest raced through the bridge.

"Geez he's fast," Miss Martian commented.

"He's probably trying to lose us," Emerald replied as the medic made a sharp turn and drove down into a mine. "Optimus! He's found a Decepticon mine!"

"That's not the only thing here," M'gann said.

Looking up they saw the Nemesis with the retrieval tube etended, transporting energon up to the ship. "Well…today is just getting better and better."

-.-

Breakdown walked with a vehicon soldier named Steve, one of his favorite guys to talk with on the Nemesis crew. "Yea, she kinda domineering, and the extra limbs are weird, yet, I find myself intrigued," Breakdown said.

The man rolled his eyes as he put his helmet back on. "I wish you luck man."

Hearing a whistle they turned to see an ambulance stop and Ratchet stepped out with a cocky smile. Steve began to raise his weapon when Breakdown stopped him. "I was wondering when you might show," Breakdown grinned.

-.-

"You call yourself a scientist?" Megatron growled looming over Knockout and Mercy. "You were supposed to have located a fresh energon source by now!"

"Unfortunately Lord Megatron, the League has been montoring LexCorps activities very closely, we've had to be more discreet in our methods of finding energon, otherwise the Autobots and Justice League will learn of our partnership," the assistant replied.

The warlord gave a slight nod, the response was reasonable. He glared at Knockout. "Do tell me you have a valid excuse?"

"I…uh…we got distracted with the new Autobot who attacked us," the red-head answered nervously.

"Really? And what new Autobot would that be?" Hearing footsteps he looked to see Breakdown stumbling in. "You better have a good excuse for interrupting me."

The ex-wrecker fell flat on his face, revealing Ratchet. "I believe you have an appointment," he snarked.

"That Autobot," Knockout pointed as Mercy hid.

Megatron burst out laughing. _"That_ is your fearsome new adversary?! Please, he is merely Prime's medic, and here I thought you were talking about my sister. She would be reason to worry," he said smiling and shaking his head, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh no Megatron, by the time I am done with you, even she will fear me!" he said lunging and punching Megatron in the face, sending him flying into a wall.

"Oh, nice," Emerald winced from where she and M'gann watched just in case they needed to help.

Growling, Megatron got to his knees and wiped the blood of his lips. "Alright then," he said getting up.

"FOR CYBERTRON!" Ratchet cried jumping at the warlord.

Catching his fist, Megatron began to squeeze down on it, twisting his arm back behind him untill he heard several snaps, making the medic cry out in agony. "Ratchet is rather more spirited than I recollect," he commented, sounding rather bored.

"Chemical enhancement?" Knockout asked.

Raising his clawed hand, Megatron prepared to stab through, when a force slammed him into the Decepticon medic. Dragging himself off the medic, Megatron glared at the Martian girl, raising his blaster he began to charge it up.

"NOT TODAY SATAN!"

A green sportscar slammed into him, and drove throughout the mine before stopping, sending him slamming into the wall. Getting to his knees, he saw the the Green Lantern pain-in-his-aft had joined the other sidekick guarding the bleeding medic, clutching his injured arm and pride.

"AUTOBOTS!"

Hearing the incoming blaster fire, Megatron got to his feet. "Soundwave, send a groundbridge," he ordered.

Mercy turned as the bridge opened behind her, nodding to Knockout they raced through, fallowed swiftly by Megatron, who tossed a vengeful glare in their direction.

Getting on the ship, Megatron snarled as he saw the smoke coming from the mine, a mine now in the hands of the Autobots. Looking down at his hand, he smiled as he saw a green substance coating it from when he snapped the medic's arm. "Knockout, take a sample. If this did _that_ to Optimus Prime's lapdog, imagine what it could do for our troops."

-.-

"We need to stop the bleeding," Erica said pulling off the armor on Ratchet's arm. Making a construct, she pressed it against the wounds.

At that moment the others turned down the tunnel. "Robin, send a groundbridge," Optimus ordered as he helped Ratchet to his feet. The glowing vortex appeared and they helped him through just before he passed out.

-.-

"The Doc is going to be ok…right?" Wally asked as the team waited patiently.

"He'll be fine, left-handed for a little while, but fine," Arcee reassured.

Hearing a groan, they rushed in to see Ratchet trying to sit up. "Easy old friend, you lost quite a bit of energon," Optimus cautioned. "Good and bad."

"I…I didn't intend to hurt anyone," he apologized. "I just wanted so badly to…"

"Help us," Optimus finished with a sympathetic smile, "we know. But, you nearly caused the loss of something irreplaceable—our medic, and a most trusted friend."

"You did lead us to a whole new energon mine!" M'gann added.

"And for that we should all be thankful," Optimus said.

"The synthetic energon formula clearly needs refining before it can be tested again," Ratchet said.

"Clearly," Erica commented.

The medic cast her a glare before continuing. "On machines, not Autobots."

"Let's take comfort in the fact that we destoyed what was left," Superboy said.

"And Ratch, if you ever do that again, I will personally kick you butt!" Erica scolded. "If you're going to test something, test it on them!" She pointed at Bulkhead and Arcee. "They're the lab rats!"

"Hey!"


	37. Nomiations and Pranks

Chapter 36

 **A/N: alright! Onto the next chapter! Holy cow, when I started writing this never in a million years would I have thought it would be this long! And I'm still only in season one of both seasons!**

 **Sprry it took so long for me to update I had finals. Ok, rant over, now onto what you're here to read.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"_** ** _Bee's speech"_**

Watchtower, November 26

Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Optimus Prime stood staring out past the forest in the tower to provide air towards the planet below.

"Times like these, one feels the very weight of the world upon us," Wonder Woman said breaking the silence.

Hearing footsteps they turned to see Aquaman. "Everyone is here." Going inside the rest of the League stood in a room as the window covers closed. "Our adgenda is clear, what's at stake should not be underestimated."

"The decisions we make today will reverberate for years to come," Superman added.

"And influence whether or not the world continues to trust the Justice League," Wonder Woman continued.

"It's time to consider new members for the Justice League, consider all canididates wisely, remember an expansion can generate another escalation of hostilities from our enemies," Optimus finished.

"Please take your seats, we have work to do," Batman said.

Taking their seats, they looked at each other. "Remember that voting no is an option on all candidates," Superman reminded. "So, to start things off, I nominate Icon for League membership."

"Why? Cause you suspect Icon might be Kryptonian like you did with Captian Marvel?" Green Arrow scoffed.

"You thought I was Kryptonian" he said. "Cool."

"Icon interests me also," Wonder Woman agreed. "As does his protégé, Rocket. Athena knows the League more female members."

"Got that right," Arcee smirked.

"Agreed," Black Canary nodded.

"Here, here!" Hawkwoman called.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"Gobble, gobble! I love Thanksgiving," Wally said taking some cherries from the pan. The spood levitated out and smacked him. "Ow!"

"Those are for dinner Wally," Megan scolded.

Grabbing some spices, Zatanna tossed them over the turkey, casting a spell as she did so. "There, seasoned to perfection and ready for the oven," she said wiping her hands.

M'gann opened the oven and levitated the turkey inside. "Wally, I thought you and Erica were eating with your family?"

"Yea, Dad's expecting me to help! See ya!" he said grabbing another handful and running off, tripping over a wire causing a bunch of sand bags to fall on him.

"YES!" Erica exclaimed popping out of a vent, looking over she groaned. "Dang it! Wally! That was meant for 'Bee!"

"…ow."

The fans turned on under her and flour exploded out of the vent she was in. When it cleared the red-headed girl was covered in white. Another vent opened, and Bumblebee hopped out setting the bag of flour down. With a smirk he saluted and vanished.

"IT IS ON!" she screamed slamming the vent closed.

"What was that?" Zatanna asked.

Wally groaned from where he layed on the floor. "Brace yourself, Erica and Bumblebee are having a prank war."

Superboy sat down on the couch when a confetti-canon shot off behind him, covering the clone in confetti.

"YES!" Erica and Bumblebee exclaimed coming out of the vent, before looking at each other. "C'MON!" Disappearing back into the vents, Conner started to dust the paper flakes off.

Zatanna laughed lightly. "You ok?" M'gann asked.

"It's fine, just the onions," she lied and M'gann put her hand on her shoulder. "It's just…this is my first Thanksgiving without my dad."

"DANG IT!" Wally cried, walking back in he was covered in feathers.

"HOW IS IT WE KEEP GETTING EVERYONE BUT OUR INTENDED TARGET?!"

 _"_ _SPEAK FOR YOURSELF! I ALREADY GOT YOU!"_

"ONCE! BUT I'M GOING TO GET YOU BACK!"

Zatanna smiled lightly. Swiping the remaining tears away, she looked to find the Conner had vanished. "So…is that normal?"

"Very," Wally sighed hopping on the other couch, where a second confetti canon went off.

The warring friends popped back out again, before groaning and disappearing.

-.-

Watchtower

"Seriously? The Atom?" Captain Marvel asked. "How useful can he be at that size?"

"It's the size that makes him useful," Batman stated.

"I agree, that Atom can go into places we cannot simply because he fits. This is useful in getting info about an enemy," Arcee agreed.

"Still, we could always use more raw power," Flash said. "And Earth has a fourth Green Lantern, Guy Gardner."

"No," both present Lanterns said.

"But we could really—"

"No."

"Then what about Emerald? She was a Green Lanter before Guy," Bulkhead suggested as the image switched to the Lantern girl.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hal frowned.

"You're not going to nominate your own protégé?" Wonder Woman questioned.

"With the way her ring is it can be hard to tell where her loyalties lie. And…when we found out what yer ring was capable of she was…different," Hal replied.

"How?" Flash asked.

"Believe me when I say you wouldn't believe it."

"Like it could be that different from her usually irritating self," Ratchet grumbled.

-.-

Conner walked towards the Zeta Tubes with wolf. Pressing in the coordinates for the DC tube, he scowled as the screen said error, then several flashes went off blinding him. stumbling back, he felt a piece of the floor sink. And before he knew it he was dressed in a frilly pink dress, he had make-up covering his face, a tiara on his head and he was covered in pink sparkles. Looking at his partner he saw that somehow Wolf had ended up in the same postion.

"FINALLY!" They looked at each other and groaned.

"Why is it we keep doing the extact same pranks?" Erica asked and 'Bee shrugged before he disappeared again.

Sighing he cleaned up and went to the hangar to get the supercycle. Hopping on he opened the door and drove straight into a bunch of clear flypaper.

"Conner!" Erica scolded glaring at him.

"What did I do?" he asked.

Sighing she hopped out of the vent, and they pulled sphere out of the paper. "Just don't come back for a while ok?" she said walking away before she ducked as a bunch of bouncy balls fell from the ceiling. "DANGIT BUMBLEBEE!"

Shaking his head, he felt bad for those remaining at base; those two had set traps every ten feet. At least he was leaving for a meeting with whoever the pit called him.

-.-

Watchtower

"If we're considering Blue Devil, then I nominate Red Arrow," Green Arrow stated. "Roy has more experience and he's not a kid anymore, he's eighteen, a legal adult. He's ready."

"Is he?" Aquaman asked. "Red Arrow has been uncooperative and disrespectful. If we reward that behavior what message does that send to the rest of the team?"

"Aquaman, you must remember that respect is earned and not just given away freely," Optimus reminded. "When we lied to the team, Roy lost the respect for us and rightly so, we should just be glad that the rest of our partners did not react as he did. If anything, I have to say going out on his own is an effort to prove that he is worthy of being in the League, and his disrespect is his way of trying to show he can handle it on own, which means he can handle it with us."

"How do you know that?" Hawkman asked.

"You'd be surprised how many of my soldiers tried."

"Tried?"

"It was the military," Arcee said, "usually we sent them to Ironhide, Solarflare, Magnus, or Prowl to straighten them out."

"Then what about the rest of the team?" Flash asked.

"No, Red Arrow may be eighteen, but the rest of the team is still too young," Superman declared. "We're not iducting children into the League."

"That seems myoptic," Fate replied. "I have been one with Kid Flash and Aqualad. Both are ready."

"And what of Zatanna?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Absolutely not!" Fate snapped.

"That sounded alomost protective Fate," she smiled. "At least we know Zatara is still in the helmet somewhere."

"Why is Dr. Fate a member?" Captain Marvel said. "You coerced Zatara into giving up his life for you or lose his daughter instead."

"Should such behavior be condoned?" Red Tornado asked.

"Zatara desires Dr. Fate to remain in the League," Fate replied.

"And how do we know you aren't just saying that to save your own skin?" Hawkwoman asked.

"It is true, Zatara's trust in Nabu is…measured, he desires the League to maintain a close watch upon us."

-.-

Mt. Justice

Erica had managed to get 'Bee once throught this entire prank war, but he managed to dodge most the incoming paintballs, so he just had a few splotches of purple, green, and red on his clothes.

They had gotten Zatanna with a minor classic, putting saranwrap on a doorway and having the person run into it. Both had apologized quickly for that, but she brushed it off with a smile, she had to admit listening to them argue and try to prank each other was brightening her mood.

M'gann had been drenched in water, they stuck buckets on the doors, and when she opened it, well, it was just like her initiation into the cheer squad.

Wally had gotten the worst of it, he had been pelted with brown jelly beans—a trap by 'Bee no doubt to make Emerald think it was coffee beans since she was highly allergic to those—drenched in water, he somehow got catapulted into the bay, he was unfortunate enough to walk in when 'Bee activated the paintball trap, and those that missed the scout hit him, and now he was stuck in the floor with a tarantula slowly walking towards him.

"Uh…guys?" he asked looking at the vents expecting one of them to pop out. "Erica? 'Bee? Someone?!"

On the floor of the living room, Erica and Bee were sprawled out, having declared a tie after the six-hour prank war began. "Welp…that was fun," Erica huffed.

 _"_ _Yep,"_ 'Bee said moving to sit up. _"So…how are you doing considering…"_

"I'm fine."

 _"_ _Erica, wasn't it you who told me it's not healthy to keep things bottled up?"_

She sighed, curse him using her own words for his advantage. "It's just that…it's just…" she started crying, unable to finish. The fact that she wouldn't be having Thanksgiving with her parents just hit her like Bulkhead's wreaking ball.

Bumblebee pulled her up and let her sob into his shoulder like she did for him not too long ago. Hearing a beep, 'Bee pulled up camera footage to see that Wally had fallen through his false floor and the spider was slowly crawling up his shoulder. Tapping Erica's shoulder, he showed her the video hoping to cheer her up.

"Should we get him?" Erica asked cracking a smile as she watched Wally panic.

 _"_ _Eh, later."_

"GUYS! THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" Wally screamed as the spider started climbing up his shirt.

-.-

Watchtower

"Plastic man? I don't know, guys got a substantial record," Flash commented.

Captain Marvel burst out laughing. "Sorry, guy just cracks me up," he smiled before becoming nervous at all the looks he was receiving.

"Perhaps we should all talk as you would say the elephant in the room," Ratchet said. "Should Captain Marvel stay a member now that we know he's really only ten years old?"

"He does possess an adult body and the wisdom of Soloman," Red Tornado stated.

"Wisdom does not equal maturity," Aquaman growled.

"But he still has come though when we've needed him," Bulkhead said.

"I'm sitting right here!"

"Billy, then maybe you should leave," Black Canary said, "just until we've hashed this out."

"No," Batman said. "Captain Marvel is still a member and is entitled to participate until or unless he's voted out."

"It's not just his age, it's the fact the he lied about it," Wonder Woman growled.

"I didn't lie—exactly—I just left out the part about me being a kid," he said.

"A lie of omission is still a lie," she said. "You kept an important secret from us. No one in the League knew the truth."

"I did," Batman stated.

"I shouldn't be surprised since you put Robin into crime fighting when he was nine," she said glaring at the Bat.

"Robin needed to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice."

"So he could turn out like you?!"

"So that he wouldn't."

"Alright that's enough," Optimus said before Wonder Woman could snap back. "We still have the option to vote no. But I have to say Captain Marvel has proven he can stand with us despite his young age. And frankly, I have noticed when he is in his adult form, he is far more mature than his ten-year-old self. At least with him in the League we can keep an eye on him, and ensure he doesn't take on anything too dangerous. If we kick him out, who is to say what and who he will fight? He will not have back-up when he'll need it."

A few of the others murmured and nodded in agreement.

"We seem to have reached the consensus that eighteen is the right age for joining the League, but what of Miss Martian?" Manhunter asked. "She is an adolescent by Martian biological standards, she was born forty-eight earth years ago."

"So what is the deciding factor?" Red Tornado asked. "Chronology or biology? Take Superboy."

"Exactly, he's less than a year old, does he have to wait seventeen more to stand beside us," Black Canary said. "And what about Bumblebee? He's older than the human race. Should we make him wait another two million years before he's eighteen?"

"I'll admit Bumblebee—despite his age—is more than qualified to join," Wonder Woman said.

"We've already been fighting alongside him when we fight the Decepticons and a few League missions, he's can fallow orders and knows how to work in a team," John Stewart said.

"So we'd just be making it in an official capacity?" Hawkwoman asked.

"Basically," Flash said. "His infiltration and spying talents, and experience can also be useful."

"Any other ideas?" Optimus asked. "No? Then here are our candidates for new or continued membership." The holograms of the options shown around the table.

"We've debated origin, gender, size, experience, age, temperament, and background," Batman said. "But what is the fundamental criteria for membership?"

"When all is said and done, the question must be: who do we trust? Trust to fight beside us? Trust to have our backs? Turst to uphold the high standards and ideals of the Justice League?" Wonder Woman said as the voting holograms appeared.

"Time to vote," Batman said.

-.-

"All those in favor of ratifying the results?" Batman asked as the last of the results came in.

"Aye."

"All opposed?"

No one said anything.

"Then we are adjourned."

Getting up from their seats they all started walking to the Zeta Beams. "Optimus?"

The Prime turned to see Batman looking at him with a subtle worried expression. "You seemed uneasy when Canary nominated Bumblebee?"

"It's nothing to worry about Bruce, just the natural worries of a father, I'm sure you understand," he replied, and Batman nodded.

"That's not all is it?" the Caped Crusader said noting that the man he would call a friend still seemed uneasy.

"It's just a feeling I can't shake…" he replied looking out the window with a frown, "it's almost like something's going to happen soon, something bad."

"Megatron?"

"No, I'm not sure what it is, but he is not the cause of my growing unease."

Batman nodded. "Whatever it is we'll be ready."

"I hope so…I will consult with Dr. Fate, see if we can find a reason for this."

"Batman—02. Oprimus Prime—18."

Going into the cave, both were immediately pelted in cupcakes. Wiping the frosting off they looked at Wally, Erica, and Bumblebee who stood there frozen in shock.

"IT WAS HIM!" Erica and Bumblebee shouted pointing at the speedster before the both took off, leaving Wally alone with a very angry Batman and Prime.


	38. Performance

Chapter 37

 **A/N: I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope your Holidays were good as well.**

 **Onto the next chapter! I just own this story! Nothing else!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"_** ** _Bee's speech"_**

 **"** **Bee and someone else speaking at the same time."**

Mt. Justice December 7

"Advanced weapons tech has been stolen from manufacturing plants throughout Europe, and each theft coincides with stops made by the Haly Circus," Robin informed. "Batman's sending us undercover to catch the thieves."

"This clown car have room for one more?" Roy asked joining them.

"We have it covered," Robin said.

"You three have the mission covered, but you could still need someone to watch your back incase they betray you in a fight," he whispered to the three he knew and trusted.

-.-

Haly's Circus December 8

"Madams and Monsieurs, ladies and gentlemen…" A flash went off in the ring and revealed an older man in a ringmaster's uniform. "Welcome to the Haly International Traveling Circus! Where the world of the center ring is your oyster, and these are our latest pearls—the Daring Dangers!" The spotlight went up to reveal a boy grab the trapeze. "Dan Danger." He swung off into a flip, flipping past him was a red-headed girl to the other trapeze bar. "Dawn Danger." They swung back and another black-haired boy dropped out of nowhere, grabbing Dan's arms, he flipped back onto the stand. "Dawson Danger."

The spotlight fell to a blonde girl with a bow and arrows. "Diane Danger." On the other side the spotlight showed a red-headed boy with the same gear. "Dene Danger."

In the center stood another black-haired boy tossing barrels up into the air, where the acrobats passed through it midair flew though the arrows. "Derik Danger." A red-headed girl ran out and Dean vaulted her into the air as he tossed barrels the girl flipping through them and bouncing off as they came up. "And Dinese Danger. You'll never see another trapeze act like this, folks, and all performed without a net!"

Dan jumped off the platform again, grabbing onto Dawson's arms, he was swung towards Dawn, doing a flip, he reached out, barely missing Dawn's outstretched hands.

 _"_ _Robin!"_ M'gann screamed as he fell.

 _"_ _Don't blow our cover!"_

 _"_ _Don't have to! Conner throw the next barrel extra hard!"_ Erica ordered. Doing as she said, he tossed it up just as she jumped off the last barrel, she landed on the new one and rode it up, jumping off she grabbed him and spin in the air sending him flying back up. Going back down Conner caught her and they watched as Bumblebee grabbed M'gann's legs and held her out and she grabbed Robin. Deptositing them both on the platform he swung back to the middle and grabbed the other bar, climbing on top he balanced precariously to check to see if they were alright.

 _"_ _You two alright?"_

 _"_ _If you call using telekinesis to keep up with you two alright then I'm good,"_ M'gann replied.

 _"_ _I've been better, I think I caught that twenty-four-hour bug that's been goin' around,"_ Dick answered wondering how exactly his friend was going to get down.

 _"_ _But hey, the show must go on,"_ 'Bee smiled. Swinging back down below the bar, he let the other one go and Megan caught it, watching as he swung towards the other platform, letting go he flipped off and landed on his feet safely on the other side.

 _"_ _Show off."_

 _"_ _I do my best."_

At that point the crowd began cheering, having been too afraid beforehand because of the acrobat still left on the bars by himself. "PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE DARING DANGERS!"

Getting to the bottom the joined the others for a final bow. _"Didn't think you'd make it through,"_ M'gann said.

 _"_ _Neither did I, help me get backstage,"_ Robin said and they walked back as the next act began.

"Ray have you seen my other torch?" the firebreather asked rushing over to a buff blonde man.

"Here, you dropped it outside the train," he said tossing it to him before patting the man on the back. "Break a leg."

"Thanks."

"Bear withness ladies and gentlemen to the dragon's breath!" the ringmaster announced before he quickly went backstage. "Haly what's the deal?!" a man complained. "Giving the top slot to those Danger kids!"

"That's our slot!" his brother agreed.

Seeing the ensuing argument, Roy elbowed Erica, Bumblebee, and Dick. "Was your slot, until you missed that performance in Paris," Haly replied.

"Carlo was sick. He's better now."

"Plus those Dangers are a sham, they say they're brother's and sisters, but they don't even look alike!"

"You just don't like the competition," Haly said shoving past them walking towards a white-haired man in a suit. "For cryin' out loud not you again! We're in the middle of a show!"

"Then we'll talk after, but we will talk," the man said. "Another city last week, another tech firm robbed, another stop on your tour. If I prove you're responsible I will shut you down."

"I've got three minutes to gather props and get back to the center ring," Haly said walking away.

The man looked at them and walked over. Reaching into a coat he pulled out a badge. "Faraday, Interpol. New act?"

"Yea, just joined the tour," Robin answered.

"That clears you, but don't get comfortable, Haly's goin' down for this," he said leaving.

Bumblebee leaned over. _"You want me to give him trouble? Dad is technically 'retired' from Interpol and my mom is still working there undercover; they both have influence,"_ he whispered with a malicious smirk.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Dick said relieved that his friends had his back…even if they were having evil intentions.

-.-

 _"_ _If Interpol's already on this why are we bothering?"_ Superboy asked.

 _"_ _Because Batman said so; why? You got something better to do?"_ Robin asked glaring at the roof Superboy and M'gann were on watching the factory.

 _"_ _How do we know the thieves will hit here?"_ Artemis asked.

 _"_ _There are more obvious targets,"_ Red Arrow added.

 _"_ _Exactly, Interpol is already on those, besides this one fits the criteria for the theft,"_ Bumblebee said.

 _"_ _How are you feeling?"_ Emerald asked kneeling next to Robin as he rubbed his head.

 _"_ _Lousy, but I'll manage."_

 _"_ _Contact, northeast quadrant,"_ Superboy informed.

They watched as the man ran towards a lightpole, jumped and bounced off and over the fence, rolling to his feet on the other side.

 _"_ _Guess we know why Carlo missed that Paris performance,"_ Superboy growled.

 _"_ _Could be Carlo, could be his brother,"_ Robin said.

 _"_ _Just keep an open mind guys,"_ Emerald said grabbing the Boy Wonder and flying him down.

While M'gann flew down, Conner quickly slapped on a shield he got from Lex Luthor on Thanksgiving, before going to join them.

 _"_ _See where he went?"_ Robin asked.

 _"_ _He's inside, warehouse,"_ Bumblebee informed from where he knelt on the banisters above their target. He watched as the man grabbed a crowbar, and pryed a box open, pulling out a small box.

The others ran onto the platform above him and Robin cackled. "Caught red-handed, red-faced too I bet," he snickered as the man turned.

"Acrobatics won't get you outta this," Artemis said as she and RA notched their arrows.

 _"_ _I recommend you think before acting here buddy."_

The man whipped around to find the youngest Autobot kneeling on the very box he just pried open. Pulling out a torch, he shot fire at him, but the spy backflipped back and up onto the next platform. He turned, breathing fire at the others, Superboy took the brunt as the rest dodged and spread out.

Aiming to fire, Roy stopped to see Bumblebee trying to flag him down. Seeing that he had his attention the scout pointed at the boldly painted words next to him before running off. "Those crates are full of live ammo!" Red warned.

Emerald flew around the rest of the team and made a shield just as the ammo exploded, dropping the shield, she allowed Superboy to shove off the matal covering them. That guy's dead meat!" the clone snarled.

"Superboy no!" Robin called.

"He's getting away!"

"And that matters more than Miss M? The fire is killing her," Robin said.

Superboy's eyes widened and he ran over, grabbed her and ran out.

"Artemis, Red Arrow, find the theif. Emerald, find Bumblebee," Robin ordered before collapsing to his knees.

"Because the theif matters more than you?" Emerald asked picking him up and handing him off to the two archers. "Get him out, I'll find Bee." Flying through the warehouse, she was about to leave when she saw a flash of yellow, going over she found her best friend unconscious, probably since he was so close to the explosion. Making a construct she used it to pull the metal slabs off of him, before dragging him out. Dropping the first construct she trapped her friend in a bubble and flew out of the building to join the others.

-.-

Demeber 9

"Another weapons plant is hit, and once again the circus is in town," Faraday said. "I don't believe in coincidences."

"I don't care what you believe! My people are not responsible, I did a bed check last night and everyone was asleep in their bunks!" Haly replied.

 _"_ _Well we sure weren't,"_ M'gann said.

 _"_ _Actually we were, I used the holoform device that we use in our cars when we're not presently driving them around to make a bunch of pillows I set under the covers look like us,"_ 'Bee replied.

 _"_ _Oh…"_

Going back on the train they sat down in one of the carts. _"So we have two thieves, the firebreather and one of the acrobats,"_ Artemis said.

 _Dressed in identical clothes to confuse people,"_ M'gann added.

 _"_ _Maybe not just two,"_ Robin said as he pulled up several vidoes. _"Here's the Madrid security footage."_ The video showed a man bending the iron bars protecting the windows. _"And now Paris."_ They looked to see a man walking across a powerline.

 _"_ _I'm amazed he didn't get barbequed,"_ Emerald said. _"But that adds the strongman and the clown to our list."_

 _"_ _The entire circus could be involved, Haly might very well be the mastermind,"_ Roy said.

 _"_ _One problem,"_ Bumblebee voiced, _"I fallowed the theif since he jumped the fence, there was no switches. The same guy who breathed fire at us was the same one who jumped the fence."_

 _"_ _You sure?"_ Robin asked.

 _"_ _I never make mistakes when I scout, it was the same man."_

 _"_ _Could just be someone doing Haly's dirtywork,"_ Conner scoffed.

"I told you to keep an open mind," Dick growled walking out.

Erica and 'Bee looked at each other with a nod and fallowed him out, but before leaving 'Bee looked to glare at Superboy. _"Don't think so closed minded on these things, for all we know this is a man acting alone, using the circus as a ruse to keep himself hidden."_

 _"_ _Hello Megan! I can read his mind!"_ the Martian girl exclaimed.

 _"_ _I'm not sure we can trust you to do that without tipping him off,"_ Roy said.

 _"_ _Or maybe you don't trust her period, I heard you talking to Bumblebee, Robin, and Emerald back at the cave. I know you're only here to spy on the three of us!"_ Conner snapped.

Roy shoved the clone's arm away from him. _"There's a mole on this team, and there are good reasons to suspect all three of you. Artemis and Miss Martian have already been caught in lies, and you could be programmed by Cadmus without even knowing."_

 _"_ _Or maybe I take your head off without even trying!"_

 _"_ _Keep this up and I'll come back in there to kick both your afts!"_ 'Bee threatened as he and Emerald grabbed their coats and ran out to join Robin.

"Need some company?" Erica asked as they walked along the train.

"You two don't have to be out here," he said.

 _"_ _We know, and we don't care, you need it and that's all that matters,"_ 'Bee replied as they walked to a poster with the Flying Graysons.

Robin looked at the poster quietly, silently thankful that they forced him to make them come. Hearing his comm beep he answered it.

/Dude where are you?/ Wally asked.

"Confidential mission from Batman," he replied.

/Wow, you wanna know what I'm doing? Making a baloni sandwhich, just like you did/ he scoffed. /I talked to tornado, you guys aren't on a mission, not an official one anyways/

Dick began walking, Erica and Bumblebee joining him silently, listening to the conversation. "A friend, Jack Haly."

/The circus guy? From your old Flying Grayson days?/

"Yea, he's implicated in this global crime spree. Someone in the show is dirty, but I need to prove ol' Jack's clean or he may lose the circus," he sighed.

/Then why not bring me along?! I know your backstory. I know what that circus means to you; it's where you grew up, it's where you—/"

"Finish that sentence Wally and I'll be there so fast you won't be able to run away or beg for mercy," Erica warned.

"It's ok Em," he said patting her shoulder. "I didn't bring you because you know my backstory, the only reason your cousin and 'Bee are here is because they threatened to track us down and join anyways. I didn't want my best pals questioning my objectivity."

/Dude, that's what best pals are for/ Wally said.

"Thanks man, I'll make a note for next time," he said hanging up. Wiping away some of the wetness in his eyes he looked at his two friends. "We should get back inside, the show's about to start."

 _"_ _Dick, we're here if you need anything, ok?"_ 'Bee said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yea, you don't have to worry about coming to us, we won't spill secrets," Erica said hugging him.

"Thanks guys."

-.-

December 10

"And that was our show! Farwell good people of Bruges!" Haly said. Coming back in took off his hat and wiped some sweat off his forehead. "Pack it up! train leaves for Geniva in two hours!"

Going outside they started to help pack thing up. M'gann and Conner were handing Erica and Bumblebee the stuff and they set it inside the cart. Picking up a suitcase, Megan jumped as another hand grabbed it, she looked up to see Ray smiling at her.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

"I got this," she said. "You could help the others, a lot of them seem to have that flu."

"Yea it's goin' around," he shrugged.

Bumblebee tapped Conner's shoulder and pointed to the downed men, getting what his silent teammate meant, they went over and started helping load the supplies.

"All aboard! Everyone, now!" Haly ordered.

"Someone's in a hurry," Roy said as they went inside their cart.

Going to their bunks, M'gann laid down, and Erica felt her forehead. "She has a fever."

Dick, Roy, Conner, and Bumblebee walked into the girl's bunkroom. "Everything alright in here?" Robin asked.

"Yea, M'gann may've caught that bug that's been goin' around. You feeling better?" Artemis asked.

"Yes," he replied looking down at the girl on the bed. "Sorry M—Dawn, hope you didn't catch it from me."

"I feel so silly, who knew a Martian could be vulnerable to a human illness?" she chuckled.

"I did."

"Other than those who have either lived for thousands of years or travel through space frequently," M'gann corrected giving 'Bee and Emerald a half-hearted glare as both just smiled.

"When did you first feel sick?" Robin asked.

"Just after boarding the train, it came on suddenly."

"Same with me the other night. I remember that Ray rubbed my head for good luck."

"That roustabout? He touched her before we boarded," Superboy said. "Guy must be a walking petri dish."

"Must be one fast acting virus he carries," Emerald said. "Hit's the body hard before the immune system can respond, but once the body knows it's there it's easy to fend off."

Robin looked down as he thought of the info 'Bee gave him the other night, the scout seemed to have the same idea, because when he looked at him he gave a nod. "Maybe, but…" Running out into the hall he bumped into Haly pushing a cart.

"Dan, you look refreshed," he said.

"Yea, hey, Jack, how long has Ray worked for you?"

"I picked him up at the start of the European tour, poor guy's down with the same flu as the rest of them."

"We'll go check on him," Artemis offered. "It's the least we can do."

"If you insist."

As they started walking down the hall Robin put a hand on M'gann shoulder as she walked out. "You should stay in bed Dawn."

"As a friend of mine once said, 'I'll manage,'" she replied and they ran off down the hall.

Getting to Ray's bunk they walked in to find the bed empty. "Guess he wasn't that sick," Superboy muttered.

"Does this circus have an elephant I don't know about?" Roy asked looking down at the box of elephant feed.

"Not on foreign tours," Robin replied.

Erica ran over and opened the box. "Why have an empty box? Wait!" Shoving herself inside she popped back up smeared in a gray substance. "Ash! From the warehouse fire! The perpitrator's clothes were here!"

"Uh…guys, I found Ray," Artemis said and they all looked at the mask of the man she pulled from under the bed.

 _"_ _Partner up and search the train!"_

-.-

Dick and Bumblebee walked down a hall, peeking into rooms. Hearing a muffled call they pressed their ears to the door. "Stand back!" Robin said as he kicked down the door. Rushing in they found Jack Haly tied up. Robin yanked off the gag while his partner turned and pulled out a knife, cutting the ropes. "Who did this?"

"Ray! Ray the Roustabout! Right after the train left Bruges," he informed.

 _"_ _M'gann?"_ Robin called as they ran off. "Dawn come in."

/Dan? Dawson?/

 _"_ _We couldn't reach you the other way."_

/I think this flu has knocked out my other way/

 _"_ _Fantastic. Dineese, Derik, Dean, Diane come in."_

/What is it?/

"We're chasing someone who's stolen Dawn's act, her whole shtick if you catch my drift," Robin informed.

In another car, Erica groaned. "Great, just great," she grumbled moving her ring to a more accessable spot.

The clown walked in and both quickly rolled into different hiding spots. Taking the separation opportunity, Conner slapped on a shield came out just as a bunch of desks flew towards them.

The clown left the car with the box, and he chased after. "I got him, but he's onto me!"

/I'm not far behind/ Emerald called and he saw a flash of green fly past outside.

"He's exiting the dining car now."

/He's on the roof!/ Climbing up, Superboy was telekinetically thrown off the car, when a green construct caught him and dumped him back on. "Nice try creepy clown!" she growled landing next to him.

Behind him, Robin and Bumblebee hopped up. "That's no clown. It's the Parasite! The guy who once stole Superman's powers," Robin warned.

"As if you kids are who you claim to be, please," he scoffed as he transformed back into…a purple mess.

 _"_ _Ok! Which end is his head and which is his aft!? Because I can't tell them apart!"_

"Stay out of his reach, there's no flu going around, the weakness comes when he makes visible contact and feeds off the powers and abilities of others," Robin warned and a blaster was deposited in his arms.

 _"_ _It's on stun."_

"I'll admit I have been a bit of a glutton today, chowed down on the skills of practically every loser in this troupe, but oh my, the piece de resistance was Dawn Danger, or whatever her real name is. Thought I'd munch on her trapeze skills, imagine my surprise when she tasted like Martian Manhunter instead." He looked to see that the others had joined their friends on the roof. "She was a lovely appetizer, but guess who I want for my entrée?" Superboy was suddenly yanked over into his grip. "Mmm, now there's the full body kryptonian flavor I love!"

"Everybody stay whelmed! Subdue, but keep your distance!" Robin called.

Red Lazers shot out of Parasite's eyes and vaporized the archers' bows. "You know I amost never say this, but I'm sated," he said dropping Superboy. "Hate to eat and run." He flew up levitating the box with him. Emerald flew after, along with Bumblebee and Robin hopping onto the crate, before leaping at Parasite. "Sorry, no hitchhikers!" He slammed them back, sending them flying back down. M'gann caught Robin, but 'Bee fell past. Catching the blaster that Robin dropped when he was hit, he turned the safety off and fired, hearing Parasite cry out as the shot it.

Grunting as he bounced into something, he sat up to see that he was caught in a green bed and Emerald was flying next to him. "I know you would've survived that fall, but I really didn't want to wait for you to catch up," she said depositing him next to Robin as the others pulled him up.

"Conner!" M'gann called rushing over as he got up.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Dude, you're drained," Emerald said.

"She's right, he took more power than you even have! Heat vision?" Robin asked.

"I have the genetic potential for it, must've been enough for him," he stated as they made their way back to get into uniform.

"Wasn't a complete loss," Robin said holding up a flashdrive as they met up ready to go. "I managed to pick this from Parasite's pocket."

 _"_ _Nice."_

"I did get extra training from the best," he said fist-bumping the Cybertronian. "Anyways, turns out Parasite is working for Intergang." Superboy and Bumblebee groaned. "Everything he's taken, their all pieces for something. They're putting together a weapon that generates…black holes?!"

"C'mon! To build that you need a particle accelerator," Red Arrow scoffed.

 _"_ _You mean like the Bozon Collider in Geneva?"_ 'Bee asked raising an eyebrow.

"The circus' next stop," he said.

"Really? I didn't know," Emerald said. "Thank you Captain Obvious. Anyways, now that Parasite can fly he's got a big head start on us."

"Sorry," Miss M apologized.

"It's not your fault," Robin said, "but this thing could wipe out entire cities. We need to hurry."

"Correction, the four of us need to hurry," RA said grabbing his spare bow. "Bumblebee has long range weapons and can deactivate the accelerator. The rest of us don't have powers, the others will hold us back."

"You're not the only one with a back-up bow," Artemis said and they jumped as bang resounded in the small room. Looking towards the door they saw a large dent in the wall were Superboy punched it.

"My powers are back," he growled.

"How?"

"I'm still…"

"There's no way."

"I guess Kryptonians recover faster than humans or Martians," he lied rubbing his arm.

"Don't even think about leaving me behind," Miss Martian said.

Roy looked like he was about to protest. A chill went up his spine, slowly turning he saw Emerald giving him a dark smile; staying silent: good idea.

 _"_ _Alright, hey Ratch, can you give me a groundbridge to the particle accelerator in Geneva?"_ 'Bee asked and the others grinned.

-.-

Geneva

The bridge opened and they raced out, finding the guards unconscious. _"This way!"_ Bumblebee said as he and Robin lead the way.

Superboy hung back and didn't notice that the scout had slowed down as he applied a new shield. Seeing that Superboy was starting to fallow, 'Bee ran in a different direction than from where Robin lead the rest. Jumping onto another floor, he ran down the hall and onto a platform, where he lowered himself onto the pipes above Parasite.

Down in the main room, Parasite sighed a he pulled out what he believed was the last piece. "This would be so much easier with my flashdrive," he muttered sticking it in and it started to power up. "Well, let's see what will be left of Geneva."

Behind a series of pipes, Robin held out a camera and they looked to see what the playing field would look like. "So, we need to take him down," Emerald growled.

"Or at least lure him away so we can safely disengage—where'd Bumblebee go?" Robin asked and they all looked behind at Superboy who just shrugged. "And now I know how you all feel every time I do that."

"Doesn't matter, odds are he's waiting for us to make a move, he know's his objective to to shut down the system," Emerald stated.

At that point Superboy roared and barreled through the wall of their hiding spot right towards Parasite. "Seconds? No I couldn't," he smiled yanking the boy towards him. Superboy reeled back his fist and punched parasite in the face as he got close, allowing him to land behind the man. Lunging at him again, Parasite punched him back. Levitiating the clone he slammed him into the wall, the floor and then grabbed him again. "What a rush, I don't think Superman recharged this fast, what's your secret?" Tossing the boy aside he looked around for the rest. "Come on out Dangers. It won't be long before this baby's done warming up and eats Geneva."

"Should we do it?" Roy asked.

"Hey, it's the best plan we got," Emerald said.

Nodding M'gann flew out. "What do you have against Geneva anyways?" she asked.

"Never liked the food but the menu keeps improving," he replied using telekinesis to bring her to him. he punched at her, but she ducked under and swiped his feet out from under him. "Here's the main course.

"Parasite got up, and was hit with two arrows that encased his body is fast-hardening foam.

"Foam? You think Foam can hold me?" he sneered and yanked the bows away from the archers and they were yanked into the air grasping their throats. "Or stop me from choaking you with a thought?"

 _"_ _And do any of those free you before I'm done?"_ Bumblebee asked typing away quickly.

"This one does," he replied using his heat vision. Putting up and arm, he used his armor to deflect the beams as Robin joined him to continue helping while he was multitasking.

Emerald flew out and made a construct that wrapped around his eyes, making the heat vision case an explosion in backlash. "Clever, using my powers against me to start a fire, but you forget, I have…invulnerability…fire…can't…touch me." he huffed.

"Unless you make a meal of my powers and take my weaknesses as a side dish," Miss M said with a proud smirk.

"No…no," he said fainting where Emerald tied him up close to the fire with a construct.

"Poor thing, I think it's something he ate," the Lantern mock pouted. "Hey! Are you two done?!"

"Wow, you have crazy good timing," Robin said as they got the machine powered down and Bumblebee started taking it apart.

 _"_ _That was far simpler than I expected,"_ he said.

"We'll take it from here," Farady said as he and several other agents walked around with fire extinguishers.

"He is all yours," Emerald said dropping him as the inhibitor collar was slapped on.

"Thanks for the tip by the way, helps to have an inhibitor collar in advance," Faraday said.

"Glad to be of service," Robin smiled.

Artemis held out a hand as Roy got up, smiling he accepted it and looked at all three he suspected of being a mole. "Wow, he dares to touch the hand of a suspected traitor," Artemis smirked.

"Mind open. I guess I never saw you three in the thick of it before, Superboy's a hot head—"

"You're one to talk," Emerald and Bee said.

He glared at them, before taking a breath and continuing. "You each could've betrayed us here, you didn't. I'm sorry I doubted any of you," he said. "There is no mole."

-.-

December 11

Bumblebe and Erica leaned against the train car waiting for Dick to come out. Hearing the door open, they smiled as they saw the big grin on his face. "So how'd your talk with Haly go?" Erica asked practically bouncing.

"Well, he knew it was me from the start," he said rubbing his neck and both burst out laughing. "Let me finish! Anyways…you think the guys would be ok with doing one last performance?"

 _"_ _I bet they'll be happy to."_ Hearing his comm ping, 'Bee gave a wave and walked off to the side. _"What's up?"_

/Bumblebee, where are you?/ Optimus asked.

 _"_ _Just finished saving Geneva from a man made black hole, no big deal. We're about to do one last performance at Dick's old circus. So what's so important?"_

 __/Bumblebee, we'd like to offer you a position in the Justice League/


	39. Let the Heavens Align

Chapter 38

 **A/N: I just own this story and all the changes I make to the plots and info given in the actual show, the OC is my friend's.**

 **To tell the truth I was a bit nervous about posting the chapter, but I just decidei just needed to get it overwith.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave's speech"_**

 **"'** **Bee and someone else (usually Erica) talking at the same time"**

December 17, Autobot Base

"And it was written in the Covenant of Primus that when the forty-seven spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos, and the weak shall perish under the shadow of a rising darkness," Optimus recited one of the old proficies as the League and Autobots listened to the find from Fate's and Prime's recent research.

"What? No skies raining fire?" Flash scoffed.

"It doesn't say, but it is a prophecy of doom," Fate replied.

"I say it's a load of hooey," Bulkhead huffed.

"I'd always assumed the Ancients were talking about our home world," Ratchet said. "But considering Cybertron has been dark for eons…"

"And considering the recent chaos befalling our world…" Dr. Fate added.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out," Bulkhead said. "We've known about these superstitions for ages and never gave them a second thought."

"Why all the ominous rumblings now?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Because the planetary alignment of which the prophecy speaks is almost upon us," Optimus said.

"And its end point, is Earth," Fate said.

"That's just a coincidence, right?" Hal laughed nervously.

"How long we talking?" Canary asked.

"A few days, a most," Ratchet said.

"However, unsettling this revelation may be, I am more concerned about those who might believe that the prophecy speaks to them alone," Optimus glowered.

-.-

Nemesis

"I did not seek out the blood of Unicron to merely keep my spark aflame, but to rule undead armies and conquer worlds. And to accomplish that, I need nore than this sliver residing in my chest, so tell me Knockout, WHERE IS MY DARK ENERGON?!"

"Out there, Lord Megatron, simply waiting for you to reach out and pluck it," Knockout said hoping that those words didn't just cost him his life. The more irritated and unamused than enraged expression on his face told him he just barely saved his own skin. "But you shouldn't push yourself so hard, you've had setbacks, you were in stasis."

Megatron grabbed Knckout's armor and yanked him off the ground. "WHICH IS PRECISELY WHY I MUST MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME!" he said dropping him. "I have had a vision Knockout, and have seen the future vividly, for I am the rising darkness of which the prophecy speaks!"

"O-Of course, My Lord," Knockout said clearing his throat. "Any luck with finding the Dark Prime?"

Megatron laughed darkly. "Oh, he will join me soon enough and finally we will be able to destroy the Lineage of the Primes!"

-.-

Autobot Base, December 18

The team sat on the couch in the main room near all the computers since they were waiting for 'Bee to get back from picking up M'gann from the mall so they could start the video game tournament. Robin laughed as he got a meme from Erica, who was currently off world, said she was summoned to Oa for something. He then passed it to show the others as they all started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ratchet asked and Wally ran over and showed him the meme and he laughed, making all the teens freeze, and look back as the sound of Wally fainting caught their attention.

"Hey Optimus, do you wanna see something funny?" Zatanna asked.

"No," he replied not even looking away from what he was typing on one of the monitors.

"Don't take it personally," Arcee said as she saw the teens deflate, "Primes are built that way."

"I've never seen Optimus laugh, cry, or lose his cool," Bulkhead stated.

"While Optimus certainly keeps his emotions in check, I've known him far longer than any of you have," Ratchet scoffed. "And he was different before he was a Prime."

"Optimus wasn't always a Prime?" Robin asked.

"No, on Cybertron greatness is earned, but even then, our Primes are typically direct descendants of one of the Thirteen original Primes. Optimus is actually descended from one of our people's most pureblooded lines," Ratchet informed. "And sometimes, there are those born into Primehood, most often during difficult times. All the children of the Thirteen were Primes, as were there children. However, even these borns still must earn their right to lead."

"Until the need died out and Primes stopped being born," Robin said.

"Indeed, many of our scientists believe that there is a gene that activates the abilities of a Prime, but so far…we have not been able to prove such a theory by any other way other than the bloodline," Ratchet shrugged.

"So, what was Optimus like before he was a Prime? We talkin' party animal?" Wally asked getting up from where he fainted.

"No, no, Optimus was more like…Kaldur," he said and the team leader froze as his team looked at him.

"Prime!" Fowler's voice rang out on the monitor.

"What is it Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked.

"We found the culprit of the tech heists we've been tracking recently. We figure it was MECH because of their stealth tactics, until moments ago when the security feed at the Pennyington F. Particle Collider got this," he said sending them a photo of the Con without a face.

"Why's tall, dark, and terrifying out?" Zatanna asked.

"Whatever it is it can't be good," Artemis said.

"The Con without a face made off with a cutting-edge phase conductor, I'm sending you a list of everything else we've confirmed stolen to date."

"Plasma injector, neutron shield, tesserat?" Ratchet listed. "There's only one thing missing if they're indending to build…"

-.-

Nemesis

"The Decepticon spacebridge two is almost ready for launch," Knockout informed. "All we require is…"

Soundwave's monitor flashed and an image appeared.

"What Soundwave said, an ample power source."

The schematics for their intended target appeared. "This one lies in a highly fortified location, by human standards," Arachnid said. "I can tunnel in."

"The time of the prophecy is almost upon us!" he snapped. "We can no longer afford stealth."

-.-

Base

"Prime!" Fowler snapped over the monitor. "The 'Cons really stepped in it this time, they hit a US military lab. Our boys will hold them off till your team shows."

"Agent Fowler, I fear Megatron's desperation is reaching its zenith, and you know that I cannot condone human casualties," Prime replied.

"Got it, get here soon," he said hanging up.

-.-

Top Secret Military Lab, Nevada Desert

"Retreat!" the men called falling back. Four vehicons ran out with their target, stopping as they heard a groundbridge, the set it down and began firing as the Autobots drove out, transforming and firing back.

Another group flew down towards them as the Bots took out two of their men on the ground. Optimus delected a shot off his sword, and shot on of the fliers making him crash into another on. Realizing the air was not safe, they transformed and landed on the ground to continue the battle.

A few miles north, Megatron sat on his throne waiting for the final piece to arrive. /Lord Megatron, we have the package, but the Autobots have arrived/

Roaring in anger he got to his feet and started walking towards the hangar. "PREPARE THE WARSHIP FOR RENDEZVOUS! THE PACKAGE _WILL_ BE READY FOR PICK UP!" he shouted climbing into his jet. Taking off, he flew towards the battle.

-.-

/Bumblebee, the team may require back-up, they are three clicks north of your current positon just off the highway, if you drop M'gann off at the exit ramp I can groundbridge her back to base from there/ Ratchet said.

 _"_ _Got it. Sorry, bout this M'gann."_

"It's fine, anyways I really appreciate that you took me to the mall, Happy Harbor doesn't have as many options when it comes to Christmas presents," she smiled looking over the gifts she got for her teammates.

Up in the air, Megatron got a blip on his monitor and grinned as he saw it was the scout. "Well, well, a foolish scout astray from the ranks," he smiled diving down behind the car.

He began firing and Bumblebee began performing evasive maneuvers, when one shot hit, making him grunt in pain from the quick burst of electricity. Opening his eyes, he saw Megatron fly past, straight towards the area he was supposed to head for.

However, it was oddly silent in the car, wasn't he talking to…M'gann! Looking in the back seat where the girl was keeping an eye on the gifts, he froze as he saw her laying there, completely unresponsive. Putting petal to the metal he drove straight towards where he could get help.

-.-

Military Lab

Optimus ducked a cheap shot from one of the men he was fighting, before coming back and punching him across the field, before another was on him. Bulkhead just crushed on when another jumped onto his back, slamming his wrecking ball on the drone's head, it fell of, leaving him to his next dance partner. Arcee fired a barrage out of her cannons, taking out several men, before she ran over and leapt into the air, exchanging blasters for blades she landed on her next target. Optimus finally shot the last of his attackers off when the sound of a familiar jet reached him and Megatron landed on the battlefield.

"Optimus."

"Megatron, do you not see the folly in trying to force a prophecy?" he asked.

"Why leave matters to fate if one can forge one's own destiny?" he asked smiling as he saw a yellow car speeding towards them. "Speaking of fate."

They turned as Bumblebee transformed, racing over with M'gann's limp body in his servos. "M'gann!" Arcee exclaimed carefully taking her from 'Bee. "She's breathing…barely."

Megatron chuckled. "Seems I swatted a Bee and squashed a bug," he sneered.

Bumblebee roared in anger and tried to charge at him, but Bulkhead and over and grabbed his arms, stunned when the teen actually managed to make him reaffirm his grip and footing to make sure he didn't get loose.

"Ratchet! Bridge us back now!" Optimus ordered and a bridge opened up behind them. "Arcee, attend to Miss Martian, and Bumblebee."

-.-

Base

"We must have an Autobot down," Ratchet murmered as he turned on the bridge, waiting with the League and team to find out what had happened.

Arcee ran through the bridge carrying the unconscious Martian girl. "M'gann!" Superboy exclaimed as the team raced to the edge.

"What happened?" Ratchet asked looking over the girl.

 _"_ _Megatron, the coward ambushed us when we were driving back,"_ Bumblebee snarled as he stepped out of his car slamming the door.

"Quickly! Bring her into the Medbay!" Ratchet ordered. Setting her on a bed, Ratchet quickly attached a heart monitor. "Measuring the extend of absorbtion should allow us to determine a proper course of treatment. But first we need to get her stabilized!"

Superboy glared and punched Bumblebee into a wall. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER!" he screamed. Bumblebee got up and the others could see that he was shaking with barely contained rage. "HOW COULD YOU LET HER GET HURT?!"

Bumblebee ducked under his next punch and grabbed Superboy by the throat, pinning him to the wall. _"YOU THINK I LET HER GET HURT! MEGATRON AMBUSHED US! YOU DON'T THINK I DIDN'T TRY TO KEEP HER SAFE?!"_ he shouted before letting him fall to the floor gasping for air. _"He is going to pay."_

Arcee ran over and grabbed Bumblebee's shoulders. "Bee listen, you don't I don't know what it's like to see a partner…harmed. Revenge won't help Miss Martian right now," she said. "You need to keep your emotions in check. Both of you." She glared at Superboy who was still rubbing his neck.

-.-

Nemesis

"The power source will be rigged up in no time, Lord Megatron. We're nearly at the consruction site," Knockout informed.

"Nearly isn't good enough! The planets are aligning! I must not miss my moment to—gah!" The warlord doubled over in pain as another vision came. A dark form with glowing violet eyes, a volocano erupting.

"Lord Megatron? Are you alright?" Knockout asked as he saw the leader turn with glowing violet eyes.

"It is as if I can hear Unicron's thoughts," he said.

"Unicron? The Chaos Bringer?" Arachnid asked and some members of the crew made sacred symbols to ward off evil.

"They say Dark Energon is his blood," Knockout said with a laugh. "Whatever."

"Complete the spacebridge, there is something I must attend to," he said walking away.

"Is is just me or does he seem to be losing it?" Knockout asked.

Arachnid smiled brushing a piece of hiar out of her face. "A bit."

-.-

Several soldiers in vehicle armor stood around the stolen device. Hearing a clang, they turned in confusion, trying to figure out the sorce. Bulkhead dropped down on one before running off to attack another. One aimed his weapon at the bulky warrior, when Optimus landed on him, firing at the remaining soldier.

"Batman, how is Miss Martian?" Optimus asked.

/It's too soon to know/

"She's in good hands," he said hoping that she could be saved. "Lock onto my coordinates and activate the groundbridge."

"Ready," Bulkhead said hefting the device on his back as the bridge opened.

"Go on ahead, there is something I must do," Prime said.

"Wh—Seriously?" Bulkhead gaped.

"I have been foolish not to see what history has proven over and over again, Autobots and Decepticons will never mend their ways. If there is no diplomatic solution to this perpetual conflict, then I must not all more darkness to fall on this or any planet," Optimus stated. "Megatron must be destroyed, once and for all."

Bulkhead stared as the Prime left disappearing down the dark hall. A group of soldiers turned in shock as they watched him approach.

"I have come for Megatron, and him alone," Optimus said activating his blasters, "stand down and be spared." The men activated their weapons and began firing.

-.-

Unknown Location

Megatron landed in a despolate plain, staring up at the erupting volcano. "The mountain from my visions! It summoned me here! Guided me! This is where I position my space bridge, the place from which I am to harvest Dark Energon!"

/Megatron! I am here on your ship! Come and face me!/ Prime said over the comm of one of his probably now dead men.

He laughed. "The place I am to destroy the line of the Primes and reawaken the line of the Dark Primes," he smiled. "Hear this! Any Decpticon who lays a hand on Optimus Prime will answer to me! Soundwave, lock onto my coordinates and lead my opponent to his destiny."

The bridge opened and Optimus walked through the bridge. "Megatron, today you answer for your crimes against Cybertron and against Earth. One shall stand…"

"And one shall fall," Megatron finished. "YOU OPTIMUS PRIME!"

Their battle began, both puching each back at the same time. Megatron fired his blaster, and Otpimus knocked out of the way before the shot was fully out of the gun, aiming his own at his oppenent's spark. Meatron grabbed his arm, and swiped the shot aside, before ducking back as Optimus kicked for his head. Aiming their guns at each other, they fired at the same time, the blasts hitting each other, causing an explosion that knocked both of them back.

Exchaning his gun for a sword, Optimus charged Megatron, using the blade to deflect the incoming shots. Jumping into the air, Megatron pulled out his own blade, and parred as they collided again.

"Your defeat was forseen by the Ancients Optimus, what was it they wrote? The weak will perish," Megatron grinned.

"Do not believe everything you read," Optimus said pulling his sword away and ducking back as Megatron swiped his, before going for his own stricke that Megatron jumped. Their swords clashed again, before they split and the warlord ducked a strike from the Prime.

-.-

Autobot Base

The League and the Team watched anxiously as Ratchet and J'ohn worked on M'gann. "The effects on an energon blast on a Cybertronian are devastating enough, but she's a Martian," Rachet explained as he scanned her again. "I'm not getting any readings, I'm such a fool! Miss Martian has been infected with dark energon. If dark energon is devoring M'gann from the inside out, then we must expel it quickly."

 _"_ _I'll do it,"_ 'Bee offered.

"No. You also took a hit from that blast, you could be injured," Ratchet stated. "Arcee."

Running over, the female Autobot sat down and allowed Ratchet to insert a tube into one of her arteries drawing out the energon within. "Wait, I thought you said enegron was devastating on non-Cybertronian lifeforms?" Superboy asked.

"Under normal circumstances, yes, but the opposing energons will meet when she absorbs it and wipe each other out," he explained. Setting the tube of energon in the infusion device, he opened the chamber. "Get her in here! Now!"

Flash rushed her, ran out, and the doors closed. Pressing a button, the room was filled with a bright light, momentarily blinding everyone in the room.

Opening the door, Ratchet pulled her out and took her pulse before sighing in relief. "She's stabilizing," he said and there was a collective release of tension in the room. M'gann opened her eye and smiled as she saw those she cared for standing all around her.

"Optimus, we did it," Ratchet said before noticing that he wasn't there. "Bulkhead? Where's Optimus?"

The Wrecker set down the power source and transformed, hopping out of his vehicle. "He said he was going to deal with Megatron."

"He said he was going to fight Megatron alone?!" Arcee snapped.

"It could be a trap," Ratchet said. "We need to get a fix on his location."

-.-

Volcano

Optimus was thrown, back, landing on his feet, he dug his sword into the ground to keep himself stable as he slid back. Transforming, he drove straight at Megatron, dodging his shots, before ramming into him, sending him falling down the cliff. Transforming again he landed on Megatron, indending to finish him, When Megatron grabbed his head, and hurled him off. Rolling to his feet, he ran back at him giving an uppercut just as Megatron got to his feet, delivering a barrage of punches, Megatron flew back and slammed on the ground painfully.

Slowly getting up, Megatron watched as Optimus approached pulling out his sword. "My destiny…" he choked out as prime planted his foot on him, raising his blade, "…this isn't how it was supposed to end."

"On the contrary, I cannot allow it to end any other way," Prime replied.

The volcano exploded just as Optimus swung down, feeling a new surge of power, Megatron caught the blade just inches above where he was safely secured inside his exosuit. As Prime kept pushing down, Megatron used his surge of power from the dark energon to get to his feet.

"How was you put it Optimus? I could not have allowed this to end otherwise?" he grinned. Snapping the blade, he drove it hard, into the suit, hating the fact it didn't go deep enough to hurt his enemy inside. Punching the Prime again and again like was done to him before, he sent Prime flying back.

Starting to get up, he noticed that the land was shrouded in darkness, the sun covered by the moon, and the volcanic cloud rising to obscure the sky, each flash of violet lightning making the dark energon coursing through his enemy flash brighter. Yaking the blade out of his shoulder he brought out his other sword when Megatron slammed his foot on him, pinning him down.

-.-

Autobot Base

"I've got Optimus' coordinates," Batman informed.

Ratchet looked at the data and froze. "How is this possible?!"

"What?" Wonder Woman asked.

"We need to get Optimus out of there! Now!"

-.-

Volcano

The volcano exploded and violet fire began pouring out of the Earth. Megatron laughed as he watched. "Well, it seems that the blood of unicron is not out there, but rather right here!"

Optimus was frozen in horror at the sight before him. "Dark Energon erupting from the Earth?"

Megatron grinned and raised his blade for a killing blow.

 **To be continued…**


	40. Darkness Rising

Chapter 39

 **A/N: alright! Onto the next part! Once again, I own nothing besides the changes I make to the orgininal stuff.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave"_**

December 18, Volcano

"Why is the Blood of Unicron erupting from the Earth?" Optimus muttered tiredly as he started to feel the effects.

"A question Optimus you shall take you your grave," Megatron smiled.

A bridge opened and Bumblebee drove through, slamming into Megatron, transforming he pulled out his blade as he and Megatron circled warily. Bulkhead and Arcee ran through the bridge only to freeze at the sight of the erupting volcano.

"Help 'Bee!" Arcee said looking at Bulkhead.

"Sure he needs it?" Bulkhead asked and she looked to see Bumblebee slide under Megatron's sword, using his own to rip up his side, before jumping over and vaulting off his head.

Ratchet ran out and motioned to the two of them. "Quickly, we must pull him through!" Ratchet ordered.

Megatron punched 'Bee sending him flying back, flipping in the air, he landed on his feet and glared at him, his blue eyes blazing in anger. "BUMBLEBEE! NOW! NOW! NOW!" Arcee screamed.

Reluctantly, he turned and transformed speeding towards the bridge and Megatron stabbed his flaming violet sword into the ground where he was before. Chasing after, he stopped at the scout and the bridge vanished. Transforming he stepped out and wiped the dark blood from his lip before looking at it and laughing.

"This is merely the beginning! I now have enough dark energon TO REANIMATE UNICRON HIMSELF! YES!" he exclaimed laughing madly.

-.-

Autobot Base

Batman closed the bridge as the Autobots drove back in. Opening the door, Optimus stumbled out, falling to his hands and knees. Superman flew over and helped him to his feet as the others got out of their vehicles.

Ratchet rushed over and motioned Clark to set Prime down on the other available medical table. "Easy Optimus, from the looks of things you've been exposed to a massive amount of dark energon," he warned as Optimus started to sit up.

Resting his head on his knees for a moment, he sat up and looked at M'gann. "I am not the only one," he said.

"Hey Optimus," M'gann greeted with a weak wave, getting a nod in return from the Prime.

"Megatron find more of the dark stuff?" Green Lantern asked.

"A volcano full," Arcee said.

"The question is how?" Bulkhead said.

"No, the question is what? As in what is the Blood of Unicron doing here on Earth?" Ratchet said.

"The Cons killed a Unicorn?" Zatanna asked and they all looked at her in confusion. "White horse with a horn on it's head, prances around all sparkly."

"Unicron," Fate corrected. "An ancient being of chaos, far older than Klarion and myself."

"His fossilized blood comprises that matter we call dark energon, the fuel and life source for the Dark Primes, beings he created to destroy the Primes…as legend says anyways," Ratchet explained.

"So Unicron is some kind of boogey man?" Conner scoffed.

"Boogey man?"

"Make-believe creepy guy that hides in the closet," Artemis said.

"Hardly," Fate replied. "Unicron is very real. The first being of chaos incarnate, betraying the oldest forces of order."

"So you're saying he's basically the Devil?" Wally scoffed.

"Indeed," Fate replied.

"…oh."

"Prime," Fowler called only to blink, "and Justice League, been watching the news? Mother Nature is not in a good mood today."

"We know about the volcano," Batman said.

"And the quakes?"

Robin began typing pulling up a map of the globe. "He's right. Seven major ones of the same magnitude on the rhictor scale occurred at the exact same time as each other and that volcanic eruption. They were all around the world on separate tetonic plates."

"In theory, unrelated if they hadn't happened at the exact same time," Fowler said.

"More good news," Roy said turning on th tv.

"Freak storms unlike any the region has seen, tsumanis threaten the Canadian coast while lighting storms pummel the Gobi Desert. Meanwhile electromagnetic anamoloies plague urban power grids, these abnormal global phenomina are leaving most to wonder why now and what next?" the reporter said.

"Don't tell me one of your enemies have built a weather machine," Fowler grumbled.

"One that powerful?" Flash said shaking his head. "There's no possible way."

"And the appearance of the dark energon at the same time," Batman added. "This isn't a coincidence…"

"World Leaders are classifying these events as a global emergency, and scientists believe it has something to do with the current planetary alignment about to take place."

"What have you learned Prime and you better now be blowing smoke up my…" Agent Fowler trailed off as he saw the group of proteges all looking at him.

"We've learned this, along with the so-called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated deep from within the Earth's surface, from the very center of the Earth's core in fact," Hal said.

"Quakes don't start there…do they?"

"Tiny tremors, rising and falling in a consistent pattern," Ratchet stated, "almost like a…" He stopped and looked at the current data being collected.

"Like a what?" Green Arrow asked as Ratchet quickly began typing.

"If I convery these data points into audio files," he said. "Listen."

Everyone in the room froze in horror as they heard a heartbeat. Bumblebee bit his lip in pain, thankful that his lack of a voice made so he couldn't scream as a sudden agony consistent with the beats ripped through his body. Gribbing his sides, he slid down the wall.

"Turn it off!" M'gann said seeing her friend's predicament.

Realizing what she meant, Ratchet shut it down and examined the scout. "What happened?" Robin asked.

"Odds are Bumblebee is still feeling some residual effects from the dark energon blast," Ratchet stated. "The sudden exposure combined with the active sparkbeat must've jarred him, escpecially since he's still building up his immunity."

 _"_ _It's alright Ratch, I'll be fine,"_ he said as the pain subsided.

Ratchet looked at the teen doubtfully, before helping him up and going back next to Optimus. "When are you going to tell him? He's going to figure it out on his own at any point now," he whispered low enough so no one with super hearing could listen in.

Optimus sighed. "As soon as the crisis is averted," he answered.

-.-

Volcano

Megatron stood on the bridge of the Nemesis watching the volcano release more of the dark substance he desired. "Rivers of your very lifeblood, rising from the depths to become one with me," he smiled before shaking in pain as another vision hit him. Cracks spread across the earth, the violet eyes glew broighter, and the world was turned to dust. Soundwave walked over and waited silently. As the moment passed, Megatron ran a hand through his hair and looked at his most trusted ally. "What is it?"

 _"_ _I have found a pattern to the eruption, by converting the data to audio. Do you wish to see My Lord?"_

"Yes, play it," he said and instantly grabbed his head as pain ripped through him as the heartbeat played. "Stop! I can feel it pounding in my brain!"

-.-

Autobot Base

"Was that…a Cybertronian heartbeat?" Wally asked. "How is that even possible? The heart pumps blood, there's nothing inside the Earth to pump except…"

"The Blood of Unicron," M'gann whispered.

"So wait a minute! You're saying something is living there inside our planet?" Roy said.

"I fear that the Earth's very core is not comprised of magma, as Earth science has lead you to believe," Optimus said. "But rather, it is comprised of dark energon."

"And if we're hearing a spark, then Unicron is the rising darkness the prophecy fortold," Ratchet said.

"So how do we stop him from rising?" Superman asked.

"That I'm afraid was not foretold," Optimus said.

"How can something be in our planet's core, and be alive?" Artemis asked.

"Such a thing is not unprecedented," Optimus said. "Before the beginning, there was Primus. Primus created our Universe, but Unicron, one of the arcguards of Primus' realm—the All-Spark—believed Primus to be unworthy, and betrayed him, becoming the incarnation of evil and destruction. For eons, Primus and Unicron battled on the physical plain after Unicron was cast out of the All-Spark, until Primus created the Thirteen, the original Primes that preceded me, Primus finally banished Unicron and his fallowers. Primus' physical form merged with our planet's core, creating life though the Well of Allsparks. While Unicron was never heard from again in the physical realm, until now."

"Well then let's find the hole this thing crawled into and get him out!" Captain Marvel said.

"I agree!" Fowler said.

Optimus and Ratchet looked at each other. "I do not mean that Earth became Unicron's home, but rather with time and gravitationaly force, debris collected around his dormant physical form," Optimus said.

"Forming your Earth, itself," Ratchet said.

"And he's only awakening now due to the magnetic pull caused by the planetary alignment," Hawkwoman said.

"So wait, what happened whan Unicron wakes up?" Aqualad asked.

"Does he stretch and poof, no more Earth?" Artemis said.

The Autobots and the rest of the League remained silent. "You don't know do you?" Fowler asked.

"No, but nonetheless, we must find a way ensure that he never fully awakens," Prime answered.

-.-

Nemesis, December 19

"Lord Megatron, our cargo hold is nearly full of the dark substance," Arachnid informed. "I recommend a retreat; the troops are growing weak from its effects."

"And yet I grow stronger," he whispered turned to his SIC. "Arachnid, you are in command until I return."

"Return from where Master?" she asked.

"That is none of your concern," he said leaving the bridge and heading for the hangar. Getting into his ship, he took off down towards the volcano. Landing at the edge of the crater, he exited the craft and got to his knees in a bow. "I feel your presence, share your very spark, I call upon you as my Lord and Master oh mighty Unicron!"

The volcano rumbled and the rate of ash and smoke escaping increased, which condensed into a smokey form mostly obsured by the contuning bellows, and a pair of dark violet eyes broke through. **"Who dares speak to me?"**

"Your servant, most humble. Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, and your very herald. The one who wielded the dark energon which binds us, to awaken you once again! The prophecy has been fulfilled!" he said standing up. "It is only the beginning of what we shall accomplish together, for you shall rule this planet and those who walk upon it through me!"

The violet eyes narrowed. **"Prideful fool! How dare you think yourself capable of summoning my life force! I awaken because I deem it time!"**

"Master, I didn not mean to overstep," he apologized.

 **"** **Silence worm! I have no need of your lowly assistance."**

Megatron bowed again. "Please My Lord, I exist only to serve you!"

Unicron was silent for a moment. **"What is this I sense? The taint of Primus? Here?!"**

"That is Optimus, the last of the Primes, our sworn enemy!"

 **"** **You profess loyalty to me, and yet you let allow the deciples of Primus to live?!"**

"I will destroy him for you! His screams will be heard!"

 **"** **I grow weary of your prattle. Surely if you had the power to destroy these Primes, you would have done so already. I will deal with them myself."**

"My Lord please let me prove my worth to you! I have found one of your servants, a descendant of Megatronus!" he said.

 **"** **So, that is the weak call I have been sensing…No. I will deal with him myself as well, a call tainted by Primus is not worthy of serving under me! If you wanted to prove your worth, you would've killed them both by now."** The smoke dissipated and Unicron was gone.

Wiping away his sweat, Megatron glared in anger down into the pit.

-.-

Unknown Canyon

Optimus walked down the canyon in his vehicle armor. He and the rest of the League had spread out searching the locations sismic activity had been reported.

"Ratchet, this epicenter is consistent with the findings of the others, its terran is rich in ore," he said.

/Alright, but what exactly does that tell us?/ Superman asked.

/It fallows that the natural metals in your Earth would be extensions of Unicron, his limbs, so to speak/ Ratchet replied.

/So he did have his morning stretch/ Wonder Woman sighed.

/We're detecting a swell in Unicron's spark activity/ Robin called.

"Proceed with vigilance," Optimus warned. "Unicron can appear anywhere."

Hearing a rumble he turned to see a pair of violet eyes staring at him from the rock. **"Do you know me follower of Primus?"**

"Unicron, the Chaos Bringer."

 **"** **Good."** The rock rumbled and a rocky body emerged from the cliffside. **"Now know me as Unicron, your destroyer!"**

He swung his mace down, and Optimus used his swords to block it. As the large weapon lifted off, Optimus was forced to duck back as he began swinging his weapons back and forth. Jumping back he put his blades away. "I humbly request your ear Lord Unicron."

The dark being lowered his weapons. **"And what would a Prime be so compelled to say to me?"**

"I make this appeal not for myself, but for this planet which you constitute, and the beings who inhabit it. Humankind relies upon you for life, sustenance. "Your resurrection will only destroy a species created from the seeds of your greatness," he said.

 **"** **So this humankind of which you speak, you consider them my progeny?"** Optimus nodded and Unicron scowled. **"Parasites! They too shall know my wrath! Once I am finished with you!"** Retracting his weapons, he shot lightning from his hands, sending Optimus flying back. **"The Line of Primes has grown weak in my absence, and thus you shall perish!"**

He raised his hands to firing the lightning again when two red beams cut through him and Superman landed where the rock man stood. "Not today," he said. "Prime? You ok?"

The rocks began crumbling around them and multiple rock men emerged from the ground and cliffside. **"Yes, disciple of Primus, on this very day you and your allies shall fall! For Unicron may be one, but we are all Unicron!"** they chanted.

Superman reached for his comm. "Everyone! We need back up!"


	41. Lesser of Two Evils

Chapter 40

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I have this thing in my life called college, so…yea. I just own this story!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _"_** ** _Bee"_**

Unknown Canyon, December 19

"Everyone! We need back up!" Superman called.

"Negatrive," Optimus said.

"WHAT?!"

"Unicron cannot be defeated by sheer force, he wants me," Optimus said pulling out his blasters. "Get out of here!"

"I'm not letting you fight alone Optimus," Superman stated, getting ready to fight.

The first ones jumped and the Man of Steel ripped through them with his heat vision. Optimus blasted a few others, before exchanging his guns for swords, charing forwards, easily slicing through the rock. Running ahead, he jumped off a cliff onto one before back handspringing off, firing his gun at several more. Several tried jumping Prime from the side, but Superman flew in and slammed them off the cliff.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Clark called as more climbed up the cliff and emerged from the ground.

"We have to try," Optimus replied as one emerged from under him, slamming him into the cliff wall.

Superman turned to see what happened when two more came up and grabbed him, and the rest began to surround them.

One raised his arm for a killing blow when a cry rang out and Superboy slammed into him, knocking the rock man down. An eerie laugh rang out and Superman grunted as two holding his left side exploded as Robin swung over.

"Yrotsed eht noitatsefinam fo Norcinu!" Zatanna chanted and the other three holding him levitated into the air and they collided into each other.

Arcee drove along the cliff, driving off, she transformed in the air and slammed into one approaching the group holding Optimus down from the back. Bumblebee drove over, vaulting into the air he transformed and jumped onto one, knocking it over as Bulkhead slammed his into where 'Bee's fell, sending both into the cliff-wall.

Several more jumped down and a green barrier got between them and blasted them back. One jumped in front of Bumblebee and he used his blasters to shoot it down as two more landed next to him, Optimus charged by, grabbing one and hurling it towards Superboy who punched it into the cliff, and ducking under the mace of the other before a golden lasso wrapped around it and Wonder Woman hurled it up where Red Arrow and Artemis fired explosive arrows into it.

"I told you to stay away from the fight!" Optimus said.

"We know, and we don't care," Batman said. "You're the one he's after, perhaps you should consider retreating."

"The base's shields will only block my signal for so long," Optimus replied.

"Then let us take the lead," Wonder Woman said. "After all, it is a Prime who is needed to defeat Unicron."

Optimus was silent for a moment. "Very well," he yielded. _"Bumblebee, stay close."_

 _"_ _I'm not an active Prime, Dad. I can take care of myself!"_ he snapped back as he ran ahead. One manifestation ran at him, when he just fipped over, wrapped his legs around its head, before using his momentum to yank himself towards the ground into a handspring, sending the manifestation flying over him and into another.

"Let's move!" Arcee called as they charged forwards. A groundbridge appeared taking Red Arrow, Robin, Artemis, and Zatanna back to base, and the three ran through. Wonder Woman grabbed Superboy's arm and with a nod, she tossed him at another, where he slammed through it before jumping onto another. Superman flew past freezing several with his ice-breath as Arcee jumped above him and began firing, breaking them down into dust.

Climbing up the cliff, the Autobots transformed and drove away from it, swerving as other manifestations appeared. Batman stood on Bulkhead's hood, tossing various bat-a-rangs at them as they emerged from the ground.

They all slammed on their brakes and transformed as a giant one emerged before them, standing several stories taller than the rest.

"Please don't tell me that's Unicron himself," Superboy said.

"No, it is just another of his manifestations," Batman replied.

"If we can't beat or outrun this guy, what exactly are we supposed to do?!" Bulkhead snapped.

"All we can," Wonder Woman replied. "We just fight until we find a way to defeat him!"

Flying forwards, she wrapped her lasso around on of his horns and pulled as Superman shot forward and slammed into the giant, knocking him to the ground. Unicron got up, and swatted the Man of Steel into Wonder Woman; Bulkhead transformed and drove under his giant feet, before going back to bipedal mode and firing at him. The large manifestation began to turn, swinging his mace, when Bumblebee jumped up and climbed the mace, before flipping off, firing shots into the optics of their foe.

Unicron swung his sword, making a wind turrent that send those nearby flying back. Slamming his blade into the ground, he swung it towards where he felt the presence of the Primes, causing rocks to fly in his blade's wake, sending them crashing into Optimus. Looking down he saw the Prime pinned, and lifted his foot to kill him.

 **"** **I am this world's past and its future, and as of this moment all Primes are simply past."** Lowering his foot, the head was suddenly blasted off, and the rock monster crumpled to the ground.

 _"_ _Who did that?"_

"Wasn't us," Batman said helping Wonder Woman and Superman to their feet.

"Not me," Bulkhead shrugged and they looked at Arcee.

"Don't look at me, I didn't do that," she said. "Ratch?"

/What happened?/

"I happened."

All heads snapped to the top of the rubble where Megatron stood. Jumping off, he landed in front of them with a smirk.

/Wait! Tall, dark, and ulgy's there?!/ Artemis called.

/He's aligned himself with Unicron/ Ratchet snarled.

"Don't be so sure," Batman replied. "He just defeated the maifesation that was about to kill Optimus."

Optimus finally pried the rocks off of him, looking up as Megatron walked over and stood above him, before holding a hand out to help him up. Narrowing his eyes, he took the hand and stood up.

"Ironic considering our last encounter," the Warlord said. "If memory serves, you were desperately trying to extinguish my spark."

"That option remains very much in play," Prime growled pulling out his sword.

"I wold expect nothing less, however, I have a proposal," he said. "Join me in defeating our shared enemy—Unicron, the Chaos Bringer."

"Why take our side?!" Superman snapped.

"Because Megatron's pride would never allow anyone other than himself to rule our world," Batman said.

"You know me all too well, but then again, I shouldn't be surprised that Earth's greatest detective has done his research," Megatron sneered.

"You lead an army, why come to us?" Wonder Woman growled.

"Because this particular battle requires something I do not have under my command—the power of a Prime."

"Guess we don't need you," Bulkhead laughed.

"On the contrary, Optimus may be the only capable of defeating Unicron, but I am the only one who can guide you to his very spark," Megatron replied before whispering to Optimus. "…Unless, you have someone else cabale of guiding you."

"Not theat I know of," he growled back glaring daggers at him and the tyrant smirked.

The others wondered what Megatron said considering Optimus looked like he wanted to rip out his spark then and there, as he continued. "Only I can hear his very thoughts and anticipate his movements, for Unicron's blood runs through my veins. Our past alliances—Autobot, Decepticon, Justice League—no longer matter, not as long as Unicron lives."

/THE PAST ALWAYS MATTERS!/ Ratchet shouted, making several on the comms wince at the volume.

"A truce, and how long do you expect that to last?" Optimus questioned.

"Only as long as it's mutually beneficial."

"And when our 'shared mission' is over?" Batman asked.

"I will conquer this world, my way."

"Brutal honesty from a Decepticon, that's a first," Arcee said and Wonder Woman nodded in agreement.

/Aligning with the lsser of two evils is still siding with evil!/ Ratchet cautioned.

"Do you honestly believe you've seen Unicron's full power?" Megatron scoffed. "Those footsoldiers were merely the precipice of what is to come if Unicron should fully awaken. With each passing moment he evolves, mutating this world from the inside out."

"Like how your quest for power destroyed Cybertron?!" Arcee snarled.

"Make no mistake! This time there will be a planet left for me to rule!" he snapped back.

"Even if we do agree, Unicron's down at the very center of the Earth! How are we supposed to get there? Drive?" Bulkhead stated.

"There is only one way," Optimus replied.

/ABSOLUTELY NOT!/ Ratchet hollared. /GROUNDBRIDGING INTO SPACE AND ONTO MOVING TRAINS IS HARD ENOUGH! BUT PLOTTING A BLIND JUMP INSIDE A SENTIENT BEING?! BESIDES, YOU CAN'T TAKE YOUR VEHICLES, THAT MUCH DIRECT EXPOSURE TO DARK ENERGON WILL DEBILIATE YOU! YOU DON'T HAVE AS STRONG OF AN IMMUNITY AS MEGATRON!/

"Yet another reason for soliciting my guidance."

"You can provide Unicron's exact coordinates?" Optimus inquired.

"If you transport us to the world's core, I can take you to his very spark! The heart of his darkness," he answered.

"And how exactly are we supposed to stop him?" Wonder Woman asked.

Optimus was silent for a moment before answering. "With the Matrix of Leadership."

/Uh…someone care to explain what that is/ Zatanna asked.

 _"_ _It's a vessel of pure energy, the collective Wisdom of all the Primes that came before,"_ 'Bee answered.

/I'm not sure we have time for a scavenger hunt/ Red Arrow said.

/We don't need to find it, Optimus already carries it within him/ Ratchet stated.

"It was the combined power of the Primes that defeated Unicron ages ago, the very reason he now seeks to destroy _all_ descendants of them," Megatron said.

"It would stand to reason that by unleashing the power of the Matrix directly into Unicron's spark would return him to stasis," Prime agreed.

/So wait! if everything goes right that thing is going to stay down there?!/ KF exclaimed.

/Dude, Unicron isn't _in_ the Earth's core, he _is_ the Earth's core/ Robin retorted. /Weren't you paying any attention earlier?/

/Obviously not if he missed such an important detail/ Artemis snorted.

Rocks began to roll past them towards the downed manifestation as it began to stand back up. "Not again," Superman grumbled.

"Ratchet, send a groundbridge," Optimus ordered.

"Wait! We're opening up a direct path into our base with Megatron right there!?" Arcee exclaimed.

"And he's seriously going to risk his own spark to save us?" Bulkhead growled.

Megatron burst out laughing. "Hardly my nature!" He looked up at the rising being. "Consider my offer, I'll keep it busy." Transforming he flew off and started firing at it.

Nodding, Optimus and the others ran through the bridge.

-.-

Nemesis

"No word yet from Lord Megatron?" Arachnid asked; no one answered. "It appears our leader has abandoned us while this pathetic world erupts in chaos. I believe we must consider the possibility of a future without Megatron."

Soundwave turned and narrowed his eyes behind his visor, he always knew that Insecticon glitch was trouble.

-.-

Autobot Base

The entire Justice League had returned from crisis missions around the world to deliberate on what to do about Megatron's offer.

"I know desperate times call for desperate measures, but this is Meagtron we're talking about!" Green Arrow exclaimed.

"How can we even consider letting that monster near the Team after what he did to Miss Martian!?" Black Canary agreed.

"He will be closely monitored, and only here long enough to send us on our mission," Optimus replied as he and the others transformed and stepped out of their vehicles. "Not one moment longer."

"What's gonna stop him from calling in an air strike if he knows where the base is?" Fowler asked.

"By groundbridging Megatron here, he will be unable to get a fix on our coordinates."

"Optimus, what will happen to you when all your Matrix energy is released?" Captain Marvel asked.

"The power in the Matrix has never been utilized in this fashon before."

"But you have an idea, right?" Green Lantern asked.

"…If the world is to be saved, I have no other choice than to proceed," Optimus said turning to his team and avoiding the question, "but you do."

 _"_ _I'm in,"_ Bumblebee replied cracking his knuckles with a smirk.

"As if I'd let you all have all the fun," Bulkhead smiled.

"Don't even try to talk us out of it, sir," Arcee stated.

-.-

Unknown Location

Megatron dove under Unicron's mace, doing a spin, he flew up, firing at his face, before dropping behind him and firing at the joints. Another manifestation appeared and he shot down towards the ground before pulling up and swinging between its legs, flying up and firing at the face of another one, before spinning past the sword. He shot at the knees of the third one, making it crumble to the ground.

/Megatron, we are sending transport, leave your ship, you will not be needing it where we're going/ Optimus called.

"You can always be relied upon to listen to reason Optimus," he smirked swinging back, before transforming, punching one in the face, where it fell apart. Landing next to the rubble, he stepped out of his jet, and walked into the glowing vortex that appeared a moment later.

-.-

Base

The team stood nervously on the balcony with several League members standing/floating between them and the bridge.

The Autobots pulled out their weapons, and the League got into fighting stances as he appeared. Stepping out of the bridge Megatron glanced around.

"So, this is where the magic happens," he sneered. "Quaint." Looking at the balcony he smiled darkly as he saw the Martian girl lying on the couch. "You're looking much better than our last encounter little girl."

Superboy started to lunge at him when Black Canary stood between them, holding his shaking sholders.

Megatron snorted and looked at the others. "And all of you, I never forget a face, even those of lower beings," he sneered.

"Megatron, destination coordiantes, now," Ratchet snapped.

Looking away from the members of the Team and League he walked over to the groundbridge station.

"Bumblebee," Optimus said and the teen turned and looked at him, motioning with his head, they walked into another room.

 _"_ _Dad, like it or not, I'm coming on this mission,"_ he said crossing his arms.

Optimus removed his helmet and ran a hand through his hair. "I know, and that is not what I was wanting to discuss with you," he replied putting a hand on 'Bee's shoulder. "I want you to keep something for me, if you are willing."

 _"_ _Sure."_ Reaching into his subspace, Optimus pulled out a small Cybertronian artifact and handed it to the surprised scout. _"Dad…is this…? Why give it to me? This is a sacred artifact, Ratchet should have it!"_

"Perhaps, but I've been impressed by how much I've seen you mature, and because of that, I feel that you've earned the right to safeguard it, until we return."

 _"_ _I won't let you down,"_ he said standing straight.

"I know, and Bumblebee, when we get back, there is something I need to discuss with you," he said giving his son a solemn smile before putting his helmet back on.

 _"_ _Got it,"_ 'Bee smiled giving a playful salute, before they walked out to join the others.

The bridge activated, and Arcee stepped forwards, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Megatron. "You first."

"As you wish," he said with a slight bow.

"Good luck guys," Flash said.

"You've got this!" Captain Marvel exclaimed with a thumbs-up.

Arcee and Bulkhead rolled their eyes and nodded to their fellow League members as 'Bee gave a salute to the Team as they walked through the bridge.

Going through, they found themselves surrounded by a vast cavern, with large veins glowing with the pulsating energon running through them.

"So how till Unicron knows we're here?" Arcee asked.

"Make no mistake, he already does," Megatron replied, leading the way.


	42. Defeating a Demon

Chapter 41

 **A/N: alright, next part of Unicron Rising! Once again: I just own the story and sorry about the wait, college is crazy.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy/Sparkbond_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave's speech_**

Earth's Core, December 20

Walking through what seemed to be a tunnel, Megatron grabbed his head and groaned in pain as another vison hit; this one much clearer than the rest, still showing the destruction of the Earth.

"Unicron grows ever stronger," he said standing straight up and continuing.

"And how do we know Unicron isn't using him to lead us into a trap," Arcee questioned.

 _"_ _I don't think he is,"_ 'Bee replied. _"I don't know why I know, but it's a feeling that I can't shake…But we should be cautious just in case."_

-.-

Autobot Base

"More than sixty volcanoes are erupting worldwide and downtown Honolulu is under six inches of snow," Cat Grant reported as various weather shots were displayed from around the world. "The Justice League is doing everything they can to protect cities in crisis because of these anomalies," the screen switched to Superman and the Hawks rescuing people trapped on roofs of flooded areas, Flash running reverse of a tornado to stop it, and other heroes around the world. "Meanwhile scientists continue to devise theories that connect these unprecedented natural disasters with the current plentary alignment—"

The tv cut off, leaving the technical difficulties bars in its wake. "Well, so much for knowing what's going on," Wally muttered.

"AhhhhHHHHHH!"

Turning they all saw a green blur fly in and slam into the wall. Coming out of the dust, Emerald brushed her braid back and tried to smooth down her frazzled red hair. "Have to say, flying in a lightning storm then through a tornado, not the worst of all the ideas I've ever had, but still a bad idea. So! Anyone care to explain why the world suddenly went psycho while I was gone?"

"Well, this being called something like Unicorn—" Roy began and the Lantern girl was hovering over him in a heatbeat.

"Unicron?!"

"Yea that, well turns out his physical form makes up the core of our planet and is waking up causing the crazy weather," Artemis explained.

"The Autobots also made an alliance with Megatron for the time being and are now inside of him," M'gann added before coughing.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Megatron hit me and 'Bee with a dark energon blast, I seemed to have taken the worst of it till 'Bee suddenly collapsed in pain when he heard the sparkbeat," she replied.

"Wait, 'Bee was hit by dark energon?" Erica asked with wide eyes.

"Yea, though if you ask me, I say he handled it pretty well, the only time he looked to be in pain was that moment with the sparkbeat," Conner grumbled.

"But you guys still let him go?!"

"He was fine," Roy shrugged, "besides, I doubt we could've talked him out of it, when Prime gave them the option to back out he was the first to say he was staying in the mission."

"I'm done!" Fowler exclaimed, making the teens hault their conversation to hear what he had to say. "I'm getting out there to find a way to bury this thing for good!"

"In the event Optimus can't?" Batman questioned making the agent freeze as he felt a cold glare hit him.

"Don't you mean Optimus and Megatron?" Fowler replied.

"Look, no one is happy about this arrangement, but with Optimus and Megatron together again—" Ratchet began.

"Wait? Again?" Zatanna asked.

"Megatron was an Autobot?" Kid Flash asked.

"Optimus was a 'Con?" Robin rephrased.

"No, on either count. But, there was a time, back on Cybertron, during the twilight hours of the Golden Age, when Optimus and Megatron were not sworn enemies," Ratchet answered. "Do you recall when I said Optimus wasn't always a Prime? Well, he wasn't always Optimus either; he was a clerk in the Iacon Hall of Records named Orion Pax. As he learned about Cybertron's past, he became increasingly concerned with the present corruption in positions of power, including that of his own father, Sentinel Prime, and the growing inequality among the masses. Orion became inspired by the words and ideas of a gladiator team. One of whom named himself after one of the Thirteen original Primes: Megatronus. Megatronus and Solarflare vowed to challenge Cybertron's leadership, and demand all Cybertonians be treated as equals. These gladiators-turned-revoluntionaries quickly gathered a loyal fallowing, Soundwave and Moonrider chief among them. Orion began corresponding with Megatronus and Solarflare, showing them the ins and outs of the political world, as they devised cunning plans to turn the tides in their favor. As they left the gladiatorial arena for the political one, Solarflare demanded that Megatronus shorten his name. Before long, Megatron appeared before the High Counsel, to propose to propose their vision of a just society. And it was here his true colors began to show, deviating from the original plan he proclaimed that the old guard should be overthrown by force, and arrogantly demanding that Sentinel name him the next Prime. But Orion stepped in, speaking on behalf of their initial plan, which did not involve the use of violence to achieve justice. The sparks and minds of the Counsel were moved by his words, here since Cybertron's Golden Age, stood someone worthy of being a Prime. But that honor could only truly be achieved by receiving a Matrix of Leadership. His ambitions thwarted, Megatron spitefully severed all ties with Orion, Solarflare, and the Counsel; and came to wage war on all who opposed him, through his growing army of fallowers, which he named Decepticons. He vowed to claim the Matrix wherever it might lie. In time, Cybertron was consumed in all-out Civil War, poisoning the planet to its very core. Orion journeyed there, hoping to reverse the ill affects and found himself before the very spark of our Life Giver, Primus Himself. Primus' ailing physical form, sensed the inate nobility within Orion and bestowed upon him the Matrix of Leadership. It was then, a surpised and humbled Orion Pax became Optimus, the Last of the Primes."

"So wait, Optimus got the Matrix from Cybertron's core and now he's going to give it to Earth's?" Robin asked.

"What will stop Megatron from taking it for himself?" Aqualad inquired.

"Only his desire to save this world so he may conquer it, so he compellingly argued," Ratchet huffed. "Provided the Lord of the Decepticons can ever fully be trusted."

-.-

Unicron

The group stood cautiously at the edge of the vast tunnel they were just in, looking out at the open expanse before them. "Unicron's spark is near," Megatron said pointing acorss the chasm.

"Ladies first," Arcee said putting a hand on her hip guesturing for him to go ahead.

Snorting, Megatron took the lead, walking out onto the vein bridge first. Fallowing him, Bulkhead groaned and grabbed his head. _"You alright man?"_ 'Bee asked putting a hand on his arm as he stumbled.

"Fine kid, just woozy."

"It's the dark energon, it's starting to affect him," Arcee said taking his other arm and the pair began to carefully lead their teammate across.

Feeling a pulse in his spark, Megatron stopped. "He's preparing to expel us."

An eerie cry began to fill the dark tunnels and they saw a swarm of flying creatures approaching. "What are those things?!" Bulkhead asked as they all pulled out their weapons.

"Since we are in Unicron's body, it stands to reason that they're some sort of antibody," Optimus stated.

They began firing at the incoming drones, ducked down as they began firing back. One flew straight at Arcee, jumping up, she flipped and shot it, landing on another she shot them one before landing on the next vein and rolling to her feet, continuing to fire her blasters.

Bulkhead used his wrecking ball to slam one as it got close into another one, sending both flying into one of the walls. Turning, he stumbled back as a sudden dizzy spell hit him, his vision becoming hazy and blurred. One drone shot at him, the blasts knocking him off the ledge where he quickly grabbed onto the side.

Bumblebee put his blasters away and raced over, grabbing his arm as the Wrecker's grip failed. Grunting, he began to drag him up slowly before he felt his friend's grip slipping again. Opting to risk injury rather than let his friend die, he yanked him up full force, causing the buff man to give a cry of surprise before groaning as he landed painfully on his back. Sitting up, he nearly fell off again as 'Bee jumped over him using a blade to cut through one of the drones that was about to get him.

Optimus stabbed through another antibody, before standing up and shooting another, before twisting as Megatron kicked out his leg, taking out another drone as he stabbed through another with his blade. Twisting around each other, they fired at two incoming drones, before Optimus shot one going at Megatron's back and the warlord fired at another coming down the side of the vein. Rolling under Megatron's sword as he swung it at another drone, Optimus pulled out his sword and sliced through another, as he used his gun to slam the second aside. Megatron backed up and the pair stood back-to-back, relying on each other to cover their weak spots. Nodding to each other, they turned and charged for the sparkchamber.

"Arcee!" Optimus called.

Looking up, she nodded and ran before jumping onto an antibody, yanking on its front she forced it to take her up to where the others were before she stabbed it and lept off as it crashed joining the others.

-.-

Nemesis

"Fellow Decepticons, while our loyalty to Megatron's command has always been steadfast, our leader's recent behavior has been questionable at best. And it would seem as though Earth has become nothing more than a failed experiment," Arachnid declared twiating a piece of her hair between he fingers.

"Commander Arachnid, you're not suggesting that we abandon Lord Megatron?" Knockout questioned.

"Despite Soundwave's best efforts, we have been unable to detect our Master's signal," she replied. "Megatron is either permanently offline or in the thrall of Unicron; neither of which are in the best interests of the Decepticons. So, I am deeming an exodus to be the most prudent course of action. Unless anyone has a problem with that?"

The soldiers looked amongst themselves whispering quietly, but none were brave enough to face the spider's wrath.

Arachnid smirked at her success. "Set course for Regulon 4," she ordered and Soundwave turned. "You have something to say Soundwave?" The man remained quiet, but he didn't move towards the controls. Arachnid's spider legs spread out and lifted her off the ground. "I am in command here, you will resume your post." The silent man didn't twitch, but he stood firmly between her and the controls. "Step aside!"

He continued to hold his ground and she lunged, using her legs she tried to stab him, but the ex-gladiator lazily blocked her attacks, before he grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground.

"Oh," Knockout winced, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the crew.

Hurling her back, Arachnid landed in a heap before she rose to her legs again. "I'll tear out your spark for that!" she snarled. A screech sounded and the woman screamed as a black hawk sliced at her face with its claws, before perching itself on Soundwave's shoulders. Soundwave used the distraction to grab her by her hair and hurl her to the ground. Arachnid attempted to get up, but a foot landed on her chest and she glared up to see that the TIC was gazing down at her. Remembering that he was a feared gladiator that fought on the same level as Megatron she sighed in defeat. "I yield."

Releasing her, Soundwave walked back to his post where he saw an incoming call, answering it he wasn't surprised to find the Light waiting. /Soundwave, where is Megatron?/ Savage asked.

 _"_ _Megatron: in battle. Foe: Unicron."_

/Unicorn?/ Queen Bee asked.

Klarion screamed. /NO! DON'T CALL HIM THAT! I GARUNTEE HE WILL DO HORRIBLE THINGS IF YOU CALL HIM THAT! Un-i-cron is the first incarnate of Chaos! A being of pure destruction, nothing escapes his wrath should you bring it down upon yourself! HE makes ME look like a Lord of Order! No WAIT! A SAINT! COMPARED TO HIM I LOOK LIKE A SAINT!"

/…Ok…and how long before Lord Megatron will return?/

 _"_ _Answer: as soon as Unicron is defeated."_

/Do we need to halt our plans?/

 _"_ _Lord Megatron's orders: No. Proceed to next phase."_

-.-

Unicron

Running into the chamber adjacent to the spark chamber, the group fired at the antibodies attempting to enter. Some got past, flying above before shooting down, making some of them shoot up to deal with them growing number.

Megatron grabbed one and slammed it to the ground, before shooting another, stepping back he dodged as another flew past where he swung his sword through it.

 ** _"_** ** _Megatron, do as I command. Destroy the Primes!"_**

Megatron cried out and grabbed his head, collapsing to his knees. "Megatron!" Optimus called as his temporary ally slowly forced himself to his feet.

"Unicron's spark, lies just beyond," he groaned pointing at the back wall.

Running over, Optimus provided cover fire. "And how do we get inside?"

"By tricking Unicron's defenses into thinking we're not a threat," Megatron replied placing his chest near one of the sensors. Recognizing the blood in him, the doors retracted opening the way to the spark chamber.

"Autobots, I will need you to keep our attackers at bay for as long as you can," Optimus said before he ran inside.

"We have to hold out! For Optimus," Bulkhead exclaimed as they continued their battle.

Prime raced through the tunnel, fallowing the trail of light till he stopped next to Megatron, whom was staring at the massive spark glowing before them.

"Optimus, swiftly!" Megatron ordered.

Stepping forwards, Prime prepared to release the Matrix when the spark flared up, sending an arc of energy out. As the arcs hit them, both collapsed to their knees in pain.

 ** _"_** ** _Megatron! Do as I command! Destroy the Prime!"_**

Megatron grunted in pain as his eyes glew with violet fire, and his sword was brought out against his command. Going over to Optimus, he raised his blade and swung down, before stopping his arm with his own hand. Battling with himself, he forced the dark power out of his mind. "MEGATRON IS COMMANDED BY NO ONE!" he screamed at the glowing orb.

The spark's light grew brighter and both screamed in agony.

Outside, the antibodies retreated, and the three Autobots cried out as waves of pain slammed into them like a truck.

Bumblebee did not like the dark presence he could feel surrounding them and causing them pain, and it no doubt was only going to get worse the longer it lasted. **_"Child, do as I say, and kill them!"_**

"Over my dead body," he whispered back.

 ** _"_** ** _That can be arranged."_**

The presence left and the antibodies resumed their attack, forcing the recovering team to quickly get over their pain and continue before they broke through to the sparkchamber.

Optimus ground his teeth as he forced himself to his knees. "Matrix of Leadership, I call upon you," he said.

 **"** **You cannot defeat me Disciple of Primus,"** Unicron said as he possessed Megatron's body. **"For I have transcended physical form, by my will alone, this world shall fall into Chaos!"**

"Not while I still live Unicron!" he snapped back, getting to his feet and crossing his arms over his chest. "The power of the Matrix will light our darkest hour."

 **"** **NO!"** Unicron screamed as the blue rings of light began to spin around the Prime. Pulling back his arms, the Matrix energy shot out of his chest, directly into Unicron's spark. The shockwave sent Megatron's body flying back, and Optimus passed out as the energy left.

The antibodies began to fall, and they all sighed in replief, Bulkhead and Arcee falling to their knees. 'Bee turned around, wiping some sweat off his forehead and looked at the wall guarding the sparkchamber. _"C'mon guys, we're not done yet."_

-.-

Autobot Base, December 21

The team and remaining members of the League slowly crawled out of the places they used to take cover as an earthquake began.

"There may be aftershocks," Canary warned.

The monitors came back to life and they all looked at them waiting for a signal. "Are they…?" Emerald began.

The life signals for all of them appeared and everyone cheered in relief.

-.-

Nemesis

Soundwave typed rapidly on his monitor, smirking behind his visor as he saw Megatron's signal. Going to the groundbridge he began typing the coordinates. _"Master, there is a groundbridge on the way."_

-.-

Unicron

Megatron groaned as he got up, rubbing his head, he looked around to see that they were surrounded in darkness, the light of the dark spark gone. "Teamwork, hmph," he huffed looking at Optimus who was groaning and slowly getting up.

Pulling out his blade, he walked over to the downed Prime, fully intent on killing him. Optimus looked up with a confused and dazed expression. "Where are we Megatronus?"

The Decepticon balked, before growling as he realized what happened, so much for killing him…however, he could use this to his advantage. Retracting the sword, he held out his hand helping him up. "Don't you remember old friend?"

Optimus retracted his mask, and looked past as the wall broke down and the rest of the Autobots charged in. "Optimus, are you ok?"

"Why did he call me that?" Optimus questioned looking at the three as they skid to a stop, glaring at Megatron.

"What did you do to him?" Arcee snarled raising her wrist-blades in a preparation to strike.

"Who are they?"

 _/Master, there is a groundbridge on the way/_ Soundwave commed. As Megatron heard his TIC, the glowing portal appeared behind them.

"Our mortal enemies!" he exclaimed grabbing his shoulder pushing him towards the bridge. "We're out numbered! Go! I'll cover you!"

Megatron fired his cannon at them, and Bumblebee was the only one who managed to duck out of the way. Rolling to his feet he looked up to see his father turn and look at him with an unreadable expression on his face. _"Dad, what are you doing?!"_

Optimus narrowed his eyes, the boy looked familiar, excrushiatingly so, but the where was escaping him. Feeling a slight pang in his spark, he shook his head and pushed it off; running through the bridge with Megatron right behind him.

-.-

Autobot Base

Ratchet activated the bridge, and the League stood anxiously waiting, most having rushed over from across the globe to see their friends return. Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee walked in each looking tired and downtrodden.

"Where's Optimus?" Batman asked immediately.

"Not dead," Arcee sighed sitting down on one of the supply boxes, removing her helmet.

"But he looked right at us and didn't even know who we are," Bulkhead stated, supporting himself on the wall. "Didn't even know his own name."

"We'll find out what exactly happened later, for now all of you, take decontamination baths and get some rest, that amount of exposure will have decimated your energy," Ratchet ordered.

The three nodded and made their way to the showers.

Halfway there 'Bee felt dizzy, and leaned on the wall for support, waving off Arcee when she tossed a worried glance at him. His spark was hurting, a lot.

"'Bee? You alright?" Erica asked flying over to check on her friend now that he was back at base.

 _"_ _I don't feel good…my spark…"_ he mumbled as his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed.


	43. The Next Phase Begins

Chapter 42

 **A/N: alright, I just own this story! Nothing else. Emerald is my friend's OC.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave speech_**

Autobot Base, December 29

"Have you found out what exactly happened to Prime?" Black Canary asked as she and several other Leaguers gathered around the room, wanted to know what exactly happened to their friend.

"Yes," Ratchet answered. "It seems that when Optimus released the collective wisdom of the Primes, he lost his memories from the day so on from when he received the Matrix and has reverted to his pre-Prime state, Orion Pax."

"So, you're telling us Prime think's he's a librarian and a Con?" Roy said.

"Only because of his apparent amneasa, but being a Decepticon is a choice, one that I have a hard time believing that Optimus would make at any point in his life."

"So we just have to get his memories back and he'll be fine," Hal said. "Where do we start? Not like Prime gave us a contincency plan or anything."

Bumblebee sat quietly in his medical berth listening as they tried to devise theories on how to save his father. He couldn't remember how he'd ended up in Ratchet's medbay, but after he woke up on Christmas morning, Erica told him he just collapsed after saying his spark was hurting. It wasn't long after that the rest of the Team showed up to hang out with him.

Sighing he reached into his subspace and pulled out the Key to Vector Sigma. Why did Optimus give him this? Did he know or have an idea that…that this could happen?

"Bumblebee," Ratchet gasped and everyone turned to look at the teen, "where did you get that?"

 _"_ _Dad gave it to me just before the mission...he said he wanted me to hold onto it for the timebeing."_

"Ok, what is that and why is it so important?" Artemis asked.

"That Artemis, is one of Cybertron's most sacred relics, the Key to Vector Sigma," Ratchet explained.

"Vector What?"

 _"_ _Vector Sigma, it's an ancient place sacred to the Primes. Only a Prime or one chosen by a Prime may enter…But why would Dad give it to me?"_

"Because he didn't plan coming back, he gave it to you as his contincency plan," Batman realized. "Ratchet, can this place restore Prime's memories?"

"It's a place of ancient mystic power, the repository of the Wisdom of the Primes."

"I'll take that as a yes!" Wally grinned. "So where's the Big V? Here? Or maybe here?"

"KF, Vector Sigma is on Cybertron," Emerald said.

"Oh."

"Ok, until we find a way to get there, everyone needs to keep quiet about Prime's disappearance," Batman ordered. "For now we'll say he's off-world finding a possible source for the recent the sudden weather anomalies."

-.-

Nemesis

"Attention, our guest is currently in isolation, but when Orion Pax emerges, he is to be shown every courtesy. And the first to address him as Optimus Prime, will have their throat ripped out," Megatron warned over the ship intercoms.

"Lord Megatron, is it wise to have an Autobot, current or former full run of the premises?" Arachnid questioned.

"Nothing happens aboard this ship without my knowledge, you would do well to remember that Arachnid," Megatron snarled before chuckling lightly. "But there is no need for concern, Orion does not possess the same fight that Optimus is so renowned for."

"Then what use is he to us?"

"Rest assured, Orion Pax will earn his stripes," he replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there is another matter I must attend to." Walking into his throne room, Soundwave bowed as he sat down and activated the monitors with the other members of the Light flashing on.

"Lord Megatron, I take it you were successful in your mission?" Savage asked.

"If I had failed Savage, you all would be dead by now, even an immortal like yourself cannot survive the vacuum of space," he replied coldly. "Now, how are our plans proceeding?"

"Everything is on course, all we need to do is wait for our inside operative to make his move," Ras replied.

Megatron grinned darkly at at news. "And then the Justice League will be ours. It is time for the heroes to become the villains."

-.-

Washington DC, December 30

"The Justice League was formed for two reasons. First to acknowledge that no single individual, no matter how powerful, can solve all the world's problems alone. And second, to uphold the values of tructh, liberty, and justice," Superman said. "That last one's even in the name." The crowd laughed, before letting him continue. "These five heroes have sworn to uphold those values."

Inside the hall, the team sat watching the tv. "Outside the Hall, you are watching the Justice League's induction of it's five newest members. Looks like the entire League has shown up, everyone from Batman to Captian Marvel."

"I'm glad they didn't kick Billy out," Wally said munching on an apple. "And I love the fact there's a ten-year-old on the League!"

"There is?" Icon's protégé, Roquel aka Rocket asked.

Bumblebee punched his arm as Robin and Emerald smacked him upside the head. "Way to keep a secret dumb-dumb," Erica growled.

"What? She's on the team now right?" he asked only for his cousin to smack him again.

They all looked back up as Cat Grant began speaking again. "Superman is now handing out official League membership cards. Starting with Dr. Fate, the Atom, Plastic Man, and Icon."

"You know, I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place. I should be outside celebrating with him! Not hidden in here!" Rocket growled.

"Welcome to our world," Kaldur shrugged not noticing the new girl look him over.

"Well, I suppose there is an upside too."

"Finally, Green Arrow welcomes his former protégé Speedy, now known as Red Arrow to this roster of heroes."

"Way to go Roy!" Wally and Erica cheered high-fiving.

"At last he got his wish," Kaldur smiled.

"The first of us to make it," Robin smiled. "No one will call him a sidekick anymore."

"What's so bad with being a sidekick?" Rocket asked.

 _"_ _Nothing, these three just have a hard time because people connect them with their mentors rather than for themselves."_

"Says the guy whos on the Autobot _Team_ ," Wally emphasized.

 _"_ _Says they guy who got an invite to the Justice League."_

"Whoa wait, when did this happen?" Emerald said.

'Bee shrugged. _"When we were undercover at the circus, I got a comm asking me to join."_

"So wait! Why aren't you out there?!" Wally snapped.

 _"_ _Because I didn't want to, I'm happy where I'm at, so I turned down their offer."_

"You _turned down_ and offer to join the _Justice League_?!"

 _"_ _Yep."_

"Wow," Robin said summing up all their thoughts. His watch beeped and he pulled up a file.

"Is that what I think it is?" Erica grinned floating above the Boy Wonder.

"You bet."

-.-

Smoky Mountains

"Are you sure it's her?" Artemis asked as they all sat in uniform on the Bioship.

"See for yourself," Robin said pulling up a video. "This is the security footage from the Ashfeild Regional Airport. Facial recognition confirms that's Jade Nyuen. But you've seen her without her mask, what do you think?"

"It's Jade, Cheshire," Artemis confirmed.

"Argeed," Aqualad said, "but focus on what she carries. Is that the case you saw in New Orleans, the one that got away?"

"Yep."

"Ok, I get that this Cheshire's the bad guy, but what's so important about that case?" Rocket asked.

 _"_ _Remember the Injuscice League?"_

"Who could forget them and their giant, evil plants?"

"Well, the Team and League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme and whatever's in that case is important to their plans," Aqualad said.

"We had the chance to grab it in New Orleans, but someone screwed up," Wally growled glaring at Artemis.

"Cool it, we're almost there," Emerald snapped glaring at her cousin.

Looking back out they all gasped as they saw the wreckage. Landing the ship they climbed out and began searching. "How come Homeland Security and the NTSB aren't all over this?" Wally asked.

"Cheshire's ID was on the League alert database, normal authorities wouldn't get it," Emerald said. "And her jet didn't fallow the intended flight plan, flew under radar, literally."

"But the Watchtower auto-tracked the jet and recorded the crash," Robin added.

"Then how come the League isn't here?" Roquel questioned.

"Because the two best hackers in the hero biz are right here," Emerald grinned wrapping her arms around both Robin's and Bumblebee's shoulders. "They set it up so we'd get the alert and the League wouldn't even know it happened."

"And because Cheshire and that case are our unfinished business," Aqualad said.

Erica waved him off. "Sure, whatever."

"Where are the bodies?" Conner asked.

"Here's one," Cheshire said standing further up the mountain. "And it is stunning."

 _"_ _That is a matter of perspective."_

"I am flora, not fauna. I am foliage not trees. What am I?" the Riddle said standing with several League of Shadows soldiers, Vehicons, and Mammoth. He snapped his fingers and an electric dome formed around them. "C'mon this ain't so hard. I am shrubbery not grass. What am I? I…"

"Ambush," Erica and Robin growled.

"Did you really think we wouldn't know that y'all were on Cheshire's trail? We're tired of your interference kiddies. This is the endgame, ordered from above and executed by their master strategist, moi."

 _"_ _Miss Martian is everyone linked?"_ Aqualad questioned.

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _Go!"_

The men lunged and Zatanna tossed her hands up into the air. "Etaerc a Mrotswons!" she called and a blizzard began inside the dome.

 _"_ _Superboy! Bumblebee! The pylons!"_ Aqualad ordered as he knocked the spear out of one's hand before grabbing his arms, and sending him soaring into the man KF was fighting.

 _"_ _I'm a little busy at the moment,"_ 'Bee snapped as he ducked under a Vehicon's swing. His wrist gun came out and he slammed it under the chin, firing before using the the body as a shield as the rest shot at him. Tossing the body at them they ducked, allowing Emerald to swing in, using a beam to send them flying into the cliff.

 _"_ _I'm working on it,"_ Superboy replied as he ducked behind a rock, pulling out the last shield he slapped it on.

Artemis fired an arrow towards the Cheshire. The assassin jumped back as it exploded, rolling to her feet she dropped the case and pulled out her swords. Artemis fired an arrow that she swatted aside, leaping into the air she swung down on the archer, who used he blow to blaock her attacks.

"It's just like old time, Dad pitting us against each other," Jade snickered.

Kid Flash ran, knocking several men using Apocolyptian weapons to the ground, as one fell back he fored, forcing Rocket to dodge before she punched another man in the face, she then swung back and knocked his partner off the ledge he was standing on.

M'gann used he telekines to yank the spear out of one man's hand, sending him falling onto another below just as he fired a red disk that hit Rocket, electrocuting her.

Grabbing a Vehicon, Bumblebee tossed him into the disk sending it flying away from the girl, and allowing it to shock its new target. As she got up, Roquel fell back as one of the armored men aimed a blaster at her, when the scout landed in front kicking his gun aside, swiping his feet out from under him he then yanked the man up and made him a living shield as the rest fired, killing their comrade. Dropping another body, he left the shocked girl and and pulled out his sword.

Kaldur helped her up, when one of the men used his new weapon to make the ground start to swallow them. A green clamp wrapped around him, and Emerald began spinning, using the clamp and its handle to knock other assassins and Cons off their feet.

Superboy landed on the top, using heat vision to melt one of the pryons. Mammoth landed behind him, grabbing the front of his shirt and punching him, sending him flying into the cliff opposite them.

Looking up he saw Mammoth flying at him, so he flew up and grabbed him, tossing the beast above him into the electrical barrier.

 _"_ _SB you're flying!"_ Robin gaped.

 _"_ _Huh, so that's what that patch did,"_ 'Bee commented.

 _"_ _What patch?!"_

 _"_ _Well, when we were in—DIE ALREADY!"_

The beast fell to the ground and began rolling down the mountain. Superboy flew after, using heat vison to force him down the mountain. Slamming him into the cliff wall he began punching him with super speed.

Hearing something, Erica whipped around to see an avalanche starting. Flying over she made a construct blocking it from crushing Artemis and Jade. As soon as the assassin tackled the archer out of the way she released it and flew off.

"Fine we're sisters, I don't actually want you dead," Jade said as Artemis looked at her in shock.

Up on the ride two smokebombs landed next to Shimmer and Riddler. The girl coughed as smoke surrounded them, and a bola wrapped around her before she saw the Lantern fly over and punch her in the face. The riddle turned when he was trapped in a green bubble and saw Emerald Lantern and Robin standing there.

"Parw mih pu!" Zatanna said and his torso and legs were instantly bound by wrapping similar to a mummy.

"No! No! I do not do staright jackets! I am strickly Belrev! Not Arkham!" he exclaimed as he fell over.

"Gag mih."

Dropping the bubble Emerald and Robin burst out laughing as the Riddler squirmed and flopped around like a fish. Roquel landed next to Zatanna looking at the fight. "Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much. Hguone htiw eht ebolgwons."

-.-

Mt. Justice

"Tell me if this sounds familiar: you hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed protocol, and endangered your lives. And your initative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons, proving that Warden Strange runs Belrev as a cover for criminal activity," Batman said before smiling slightly. "Well done."

The team froze and started looking at each other in shock. _"Did that just happen?"_

 _"_ _I think it did."_

 _"_ _We all just heard and saw the same thing right?"_

 _"_ _Yea I think so."_

 _"_ _Am I dreaming?"_

 _"_ _If you are we're having the same one."_

"And then there's this," Batman said snapping their attention back to him and the case he was examining, "biotechnology integrated with some sort of nano-circuitry."

Bumblebee walked forwards and examined one. _"The tech is Cybertronian, very similar to the neural integration components of the Cortical Psychic Patch, however it's intergrated with Earth tech,"_ he stated handing it to Emerald.

"Got that right, the organic part looks to be alien, however, there are some familiar Eathern aspects about it, and my ring is picking up non-physical components, mystic more likely," she added handing it back to Batman.

Nodding he put it back with the others in the case. "We'll take it to the Watchtower for further study."

"We should go too, don't wanna miss the League's induction party," Canary said.

"Black Canary—13, Batman—02."

"Does anyone else care that we were completely set up?" Robin asked.

"Yes, Cheshire and Riddler were tipped and ready for us," Aqualad said.

"And here I thought we had the whole mole-thing behind us," Emerald sighed putting her hands on her hips.

"Mole thing?" Rocket asked.

"We had intel that there was a traitor on the team," KF answered.

"Mainly Artemis, M'gann, or me," Superboy growled.

"It's way more complicated that that SB," Erica said. "However, I am concerned about your recent behavior. Your attack on Mammoth almost killed Artemis."

Superboy turned and started walking away, gritting his teeth as he heard the high pitch tone Lex Luthor used to contact him.

 _"_ _Conner, care to explain?"_

He turned back and saw the others looking at him. "There's something I need to do…"

-.-

Santa Prisca

Landing the Supercycle, Conner hopped off and looked at Lex Luthor, but he almost froze as he saw the two people beside him. "Welcome Superboy, I'd like to introduce you to my associate Queen Bee."

"My pleasure," she said cooly.

"I believe you know everyone else," Luthor said as several more people stepped out, "Sportsmaster, Mercy, Blockbuster, and our new friend Bane, who's allowed us use of his island in exchange for certain…considerations."

"So the Injuctice League was just a distraction," he said, "you two have been behind everything from the start."

Luthor chuckled. "Flattering notion, son, but we have many friends."

A helicopter flew over and began landing in the field. "This one of your friends now?"

"No, it's one of yours."

The door opened and Cheshire and Artemis hopped out, the blonde girl gasping at the sight of the clone.

"Artemis?"

She took a breath and walked next to Sportsmaster. "The hero thing wasn't workin' out, you know, no trust and all that. This is where I belong."

"It's a fast-growing club," Queen Bee said as the Bioship flew over and M'gann flew out and landed next to her.

"Why are they here?" she asked. "You promised."

"I've kept your secret and my promise. Now you keep yours," she scolded and the girl looked down. "Good."

A groundbridge appeared and the three stared at Megatron stepped out fallowed by Emerald who froze upon seeing her friends there. "You said you'd leave my friends out of this!"

"You act as if I forced them to come, they made their own choice," he sneered. "And as far as you're concerned, your _dear_ friend is fine, but only as long as you do as I say. I'd hate for something bad to happen to him, I hear having a sparkbond suddenly shredded is excrushiatingly agonizing, even leathal."

Gritting her teeth, she glared defiantly at him for a few moments before looking down.

"Give me more shields and I'm in too," Superboy said.

Luthor smiled. "My boy, you're a terrible liar." Conner began to move towards him. "Red Sun." The boy stopped and stood in place.

"So, what do you want us to do?" Artemis asked.

"You three fallow me," Sportsmaster said to the girls.

"What about Superboy?" Miss M asked.

"He'll be fine, he just needs a few adjustments that's all," Queen Bee replied.

-.-

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _There's something I need to do," Superboy said, "something I need to tell you. Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus, found a few things out. When I was cloned, only half my DNA was Superman's, the other half was human. That's why I don't have, will never have full Kryptonian powers."_

 _"_ _You sure seemed to have them today," Robin commented._

 _Conner rolled back his sleeve, revealing the shield. "I've been using these. They're called Shields, they repress my human DNA; I get the flight, the heat vision, but I think I also get angry—well, angrier. I'm sorry."_

 _"_ _So those were that patches you were talking about," Robin said looking at 'Bee who nodded._

 _"_ _But the question stands: where did they come from?"_

 _"_ _From my human father, Lex Luthor," he said._

 _"_ _So wait! The archenemy of Superman, gave his DNA to combine it with his archenemy's DNA, to create a clone that is supposed to be just like his archenemy, but that serves him!" Emerald said._

 _"_ _Huh?"_

 _"_ _Basically what she's saying is: Lex Luthor, it your dad?!" Robin rephrased._

 _Conner nodded. "He's summoned me to Santa Prisca."_

 _"_ _And you knew about that he was using steroids?!" Erica snapped turning to 'Bee who just shrugged._

 _"_ _It was a hunch, I didn't know about it that long."_

 _Artemis sighed loudly and everyone turned to look at her. "Guys, listen, Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad DNA." She walked over and pulled up the images of Cheshire, Sportsmaster, and a third woman that looked a lot like Cheshire with the red word RETIRED put over her. "My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. The rest of my family aren't even ex. My dad's Sportsmaster. And he's sending my sister Cheshire to bring me to Santa Prisca."_

 _"_ _That's why…"_

 _"_ _Yea, I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out," she sighed._

 _"_ _I knew,"_ _Robin, 'Bee, and Emerald said and they all looked at them in shock._

 _"_ _Detective."_

 _"_ _Spy."_

 _"_ _I harassed it out of him," Erica said pointing at Robin._

 _"_ _Look Artemis, your family doesn't define who you are. You're one of us, and that's all that mattered in our books,"_ _Bumblebee said and she smiled at them._

 _"_ _So, uh, who's next?" Wally asked putting a hand on Artemis' shoulder._

 _"_ _I am," M'gann said._

 _"_ _I swear I was kidding," he said raising his hands._

 _"_ _Queen Bee's been blackmailing me. She wants me to go to Santa Prisca too."_

 _"_ _How?" Aqualad asked._

 _"_ _She knows my true Martian form."_

 _"_ _Bald M'gann?" Robin chuckled._

 _"_ _Rob, that's not a Martian's true form," Emerald said._

 _Taking a breath, M'gann turned into her true form._

 _"_ _Oh…"_

 _"_ _I realized you would never accept me if you saw what I really am," she said wrapping har arms around herself._

 _"_ _M'gann did we truly seem so shallow?" Aqualad asked._

 _"_ _I didn't want to take the chance," she said. "Being a White Martian among the Green on Mars, I faced constant rejection. I couldn't face that from—"_

 _"_ _From me?" Superboy asked taking her hand. "I've known since we mind melded in Bialya in September."_

 _"_ _But that was before we even became a couple…Why didn't you say anything?"_

 _"_ _I figured you'd tell me when you were ready."_

 _"_ _M'gann, I know Martian Green Lanterns, heck I've had to go to Mars on a few occasions, Green or White makes no difference to me, each is just as strong as the other," Emerald smiled._

 _"_ _And remember Miss M, I saw you after Psimon forced it out, didn't phase me."_

 _"_ _Ok, is there anyone else?" Wally asked._

 _"_ _Yea, me," Emerald sighed. "M'gann isn't the only one being blackmailed."_

 _"_ _WHAT?"_

 _"_ _Who's blackmailing you?!" Robin gasped._

 _"_ _Megatron."_

 _"_ _Why?"_ ' _Bee growled_.

 _"_ _A few things," she said. "First is my ring. It wasn't made by conventional means, Klarion Witch-boy made it through dark magic. Luckily a Lord of Order managed to get his hands on it and even it out with the same amount of light magic, making the ring able to switch between all the Lantern corps, good and bad. When I'm attacked with magic it absorbs it, making me stronger…and a little more volitale depending on the magic it absorbed."_

 _"_ _And the other thing?"_

 _"_ _It has to do from when 'Bee and Megatron were sharing a body, he found out something," she said and the all looked at 'Bee who just stared at her in confusion. "All I'm able to tell you is that what he knows, it's connected to the reason why you have those memory blackouts during Halloween and the Failsafe exercise."_

 _'_ _Bee blinked in shock, before narrowing his eyes and clenching his fists._ _"And you can't tell me why?! You don't think I should have a right to know what you—my best friend—is being blackmailed by my archenemy for?!"_

 _"'_ _Bee, I want to I really do, I do! But that's a conversation between you and Optimus…and with your father…I can't. There's not a doubt in my mind that if he somehow figured out I told you, he would kill him, despite his amnesia. I'm so sorry."_

 _Bumblebee was silent for a moment, before he sighed in defeat._ _"I understand, we all do what we have to do. Besides, Dad said something right before the mission, said he wanted to tell me something, guess it's all the more reason to get him back right?"_

 _Erica smiled, tears pricking the corners of her eyes, and here she thought he was going to be furious with her. "What did I do to get you as my friend!" she exclaimed hugging him._

 _'_ _Bee sighed and returned the hug._ _"As I recall you wouldn't leave me alone till we became friends."_

 _"_ _You're ruining the moment here," she grumbled. "Oh yea! Bucket Lord has also summonded me to Santa Prisca!"_

-.-

Present

"Bring him along," Luthor ordered motioning to Blockbuster.

Narrowing her eyes, Artemis charged forwards and fired an arrow at the beast, covering him in a green, high-density foam. Turning she aimed an arrow at her family. "Sorry Dad, wanted to play you like you played me! But I can't let them mess with Superboy's head!"

 _"_ _M'gann be a dear and take Artemis down,"_ Queen Bee ordered.

The Martian girl's eyes glew and she lifted Artemis into the air right as Sportsmaster swung his staff at her. Turning her head, she slammed Queen Bee into a tree. Up in the air Artemis spun and fired an explosive arrow down on her father and sister, making them dodge the explosion before M'gann dropped her.

 _"_ _Queen Bee is down, Superboy, you're safe from her control."_

He smirked and started walking towards Luthor. "I may not be much of a liar, but I fooled you."

"And I'm so proud, I take it Miss Martian cleared Red Sun from your mind?" Luthor asked as Mercy stood between him and the clone.

"And confirmed that Aqualad, Emerald, Robin, Bumblebee, and Kid Flash managed to rescue me before you could install any more programming," he growled.

"Also true, personally I blame Dr. Desmond," Luthor sighed.

"Emerald, get them under control!" Megatron snarled.

With a mock bow, she flew in the air and created a construct of a dragon, before making it spin and around using the tail to slam Megatron aside. Slamming into the foam, Blockbuster and Megatron rolled to their feet.

Blockbuster charged Superboy, landing on him, they skid towards the cliff. **"Kill them!"** Megatron snarled glaring at Bane as he dusted his armor off.

Emerald flew over and made a shield, blocking the incoming fire as the Supercycle flew over, returning fire at the island men.

"You have been a very bad girl, Artemis," Sportsmaster snarled as he pulled out a mace and Cheshire grabbed her sword.

 _"_ _Reinforcement time."_

Rocket flew down and snatched two of Bane's men before dropping them somewhere in the woods.

KF rushed forwards knocking the rest out of the way and putting on a mask as canister landed in the middle of them, releasing a gas that knocked them men he took down out cold. One man began firing when a green column shot out of the barrier, knocking him into a tree.

"Time to go," Lex said as he picked up Queen Bee.

"Soundwave, send a groundbridge," Megatron ordered.

As the portal opened, Aqualad jumped down from the trees standing between them and the bridge. "None of you are going anywhere!" he snapped.

"Please, if you wish to detain me, contact my attorney," Luthor replied when Mercy's arm transformed into a gun and she fired at him.

Jumping down, Bumblebee deflected the shot, and pulled out a knife, throwing it right at Mercy, slicing through her blaster arm. Clutching it she looked up to see the scout jumping at her, when Megatron got between and blocked his attack with his blade.

Robin jumped down, knocking out several guys about to fire at Emerald from behind. Looking at the other guy he pulled out a weapon when Zatanna flew over. "Nrut sih nug otni a ekans!" The man screamed as the gun transformed, tying him up. Falling to the ground he began trying to escape. "Egnahc eht ekans otni epor."

Emerald dropped the shield and before shoving them out of the way as Bane charged.

Several vehicons ran out of the bridge and started firing at Aqualad and Rocket as they attempted to detain Luthor, Mercy and the Queen. Leaping out of they way, both grit their teeth as the men got between them and their targets.

They began firing, and the group ran through, making the portal close afterwards. Rocket made a shield, looking at Aqualad he nodded and she dropped it, flying out of the way as he summoned a large amount of water, spinning it around them, they were forced to get back-to-back where she trapped them in a bubble.

Sportsmaster used his weapon to knock another arrow aside, swinging it, he knocked her feet out from under her as Cheshire landed and aimed her sword at her. "You know I don't tolerate disobiedence Artemis," he scolded as he walked towards her.

"Sure Dad, Jade and I learned that the hard way," she snarled getting to her feet.

KF raced over and slammed Jade aside. Turning around he ran at Sportsmaster, who grabbed him and hurled him into a tree.

Bumblebee and Emerald bumped into each other, standing back-to-back, they nodded and traded dance partners. Summoning a race car, she drove it straight into the Leader of the Decepticons, slamming him to numerous trees and rocks as she drove it along, before the construct turned into a catapult and fired him at a cliff.

She flew after, only to quickly stop as a bridge opened and he went through as it closed behind him. Growling she whipped around and flew back towards the fight.

Bumblebee socked Bane in the jaw, sending him flying back. As he got to his feet, he saw a yellow blurr flip over and felt the tube dispensing Venom into his body, get yanked from its spot.

Seeing an opening, Robin pulled out his taser and firing into the gap, making him cry out and collapse.

Superboy climbed up the cliff and ran at Blockbuster. Picking up a hunk of rock from the ground, he hurled it at the clone when it stopped mid-air and flew back towards him. Miss Martina landed next to her boyfriend and they prepared for another attack as Blockbuster got up.

 _"_ _Superboy, Miss Martian, move!"_ Kaldur ordered and several disks flew past them and orbited around him, before he was electrocuted.

Aqualad and Rocket walked over wearing Apocolyptian weaponry, and Aqualand slammed his fist into the ground, trapping Blockbuster in the ground as it became like quicksand.

"You should learn to channel that anger," Conner stated before punch Blockbuster's lights out.

Artemis ran away as Sportsmaster chased her. Jumping onto a branch she looked down as he glared at her and started swinging his mace faster.

 _"_ _Need a hand?"_ Erica asked slamming him aside.

 _"_ _It's about time you got here,"_ she huffed hopping down as Aqualad used the weapon to trap Sportsmaster as well.

"Jade!" Sportsmaster called seeing his oldest.

Removing her mask, she winked at the other two girls. "Sorry Dad, but in this family it's every girl for herself," she smiled before walking back into the shadows.

He turned and found himself looking at Artemis and Emerald Lantern looking over him. "Honor's all yours," Erica grinned.

With a matching smile, Artemis gladly kicked Sportsmaster in the face knocking his mask clean off.

Kid Flash stumbled out and picked it up. "Souviner," Artemis smiled.

"It is always like this," Rocket huffed.

"Told ya," Zatanna said.

"Hey disaster averted," Robin smiled.

"Yep, I'm totally feeling the aster," Emerald remarked high-fiving him.

"This has been a good day," Aqualad said.

-.-

Watchtower

Batman put the small chip the Team retrieved into a scanner. "Scanning…."

"So are you ever joining the party?" Red Arrow asked walking in.

"No, the Earthern aspect of this biocircuitry is disturbingly sophisticated, enouch to cleanly intergrate with Cybertronian technology."

"Come on out, you need to loosen up," Roy said slapping one on the back of his neck.

Walking out, they made their way past the rest of the Leaguers who were standing in straight lines on either side of them.

"Override, Batman—02," he said typing on the Zetatube controls.

"Recognized, access granted. Vandal Savage—A04," the computer read as he waltzed in. As he entered the League bowed and Red Arrow staggered and held his head in shock.

"I…I was the mole?" he gasped.

"Yes, you were," Savage replied as he walked past the bowing League and looked out towards the Earth below them, and the Nemesis stationed nearby.

-.-

Nemesis

Megatron grinned as he looked towards the Watchtower, the scanners have already shown that Savage was inside. Hearing a door open, he turned to see Orion Pax enter. "Orion, how are you feeling?"

"Better if I knew what exactly what was going on," he replied rubbing the area over his spark, as if it were bothering him.

"Of course, you have been a captive of the Autobots and locked in stasis for quite some time my friend. Long enough for us to be in exodus on another world," Megatron stated.

"Exodus? Why?"

"Because the warlord, Ratchet's careless actions lead to this," he replied pulling up an image to their ravaged world.

As expected, Orion gasped and took a step back in shock. "Cybertron! How did…I-I cannot believe Ratchet capable of such horrors…"

"Yes, and to think the Doctor of Doom's mad quest for power continues. His marauders pesued us to this planet's orbit, where they allied themselves with a group just as power hungry as he, posing as heroes to gain the trust of their people before overthrowing their world's governments and ruling it for themselves. We have aligned with a group who knows this, and intends to stop them, we feel the people are not yet ready to behold us, so we guard them in secret to prevent the same tragedy that befell our own world."

"One question Megatron: why are we called Decepticons?" Orion questioned.

"A craven Autobot scare tactic, they used it to demonize us, but instead we choose to wear it as a badge of honor; for if speaking the truth is deception, then we are gladly guilty," he smiled.

Orion turned away and looked at the photos of their destroyed home. "Megatron, I will do my part to stop Ratchet's unspeakable crimes," he said looking abck at his old friend with a determined look. "This I vow, with all my spark."

"I'm glad to hear that my friend," Megatron smiled putting a hand on Orion's shoulder, "but for now you must rest, you still have a bit of recovering to do from your long stasis before you can help. However, rest assured, a plan is already in motion to defeat Ratchet and the Justice League. And make the universe see them for what they truly are."


	44. Happy New Year

Chapter 43

 **A/N: I only own this story, nothing else is mine!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy/flashback_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave speech_**

Washington DC, December 31

Red Arrow raced through the subway tunnels, grabbing an arrow he ducked behind a column and peered out to find his pursuers. An arrow flew by, grazing his cheek, rolling out he prepared to fire when another arrow landed and exploded at his feet, tossing him back. Landing on his feet, he aimed into the smaoke when the Flash ran out and punched him in the face before disappearing again. getting to his feet, he turned to see Aquaman looming over him, out of arrows, Roy swung his bow down only to have it break as it hit him. The King of Atlantis slammed him back, making him crash on the rails outside the smokescreen. Wiping the blood away from his nose he looked up as he heard a train coming at him.

After it passed, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Flash walked to the middle of the track and looked down into the grate Red Arrow used to escape.

-.-

Mt. Justice

"We have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories, but one thing has not changed," Kaldur said as they walked towards the mission briefing room.

"Somehow the bad guys are still two steps ahead of us," Robin said.

"Yea, but at least we know none of us are the mole," Kid Flash commented.

"That is correct," Batman said. "The mole was Red Arrow."

"Roy?" KF and Robin gasped.

"There's no way," Emerald said.

"Batman that cannot be, he was Green Arrow's protégé, we have all known him for years," Aqualad stated.

 _"_ _He's right, no way Roy would turn traitor. How'd it even happen?"_

"Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is just another Cadmus clone," Red Tornado replied.

"We learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick," Batman informed. "The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League; which is why he was so angry over any delays to his admission and why he refused to join the Team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone or a traitor, and his subconscious programming drove him to become 'League worthy,' so he struck out on his own as Red Arrow. When he was finally admitted, his secondary programming kicked in and he attempted to betray the League to Vandal Savage and Megatron. Fortunately, I had already deduced Red Arrow was a clone; we were prepared."

"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow escaped," Red Tornado stated, "he is now a fugitive. And is considered armed and dangerous."

"If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus…" Superboy whispered, not finishing the thought.

"What happened to the real Roy?" Robin asked.

"We don't know, he's not at Cadmus," Batman replied. "We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead."

Emerald put a hand on Robin's shoulder as he clenched his fist in fury, however, she was barely containing her own as was evident by the red creeping into her green uniform. "Leave it to us to find the clone," she declared.

"Negative, Red Arrow is a member of the Justice League, leave him to us," Batman said reaching for his comm. "I'm needed on the Watchtower. Red Tornado, stay with the kids."

As he left, the group looked amongst themselves. _"Clone or not, Red Arrow was one of us, we will go after him,"_ Aqualad said.

Red Tornado approached from behind and attempted to put his hand on the protégé of Aquaman's back before he suddenly just powered down.

 _"_ _Tornado?"_

 _"_ _What happened to him?"_

Robin shrugged. _"He just suddenly powered down, all functions offline."_

 _"'_ _Bee what did you do?"_ Wally accused.

 _"_ _Me?! I didn't do it…this time."_

 _"_ _Guys, I'm sensing a low-level mystic force at play. I-I don't know if it caused his shutdown, but now that I think about it, it was getting the same thing off Batman,"_ Zatanna said.

 _"_ _My ring was picking up the same thing,"_ Emerald said.

 _"_ _Batman…he called us kids, he never does that,"_ Robin added.

 _"_ _Hey guys, look familiar?"_ Bumblebee asked holding up what Tornado had clenched in his fist.

 _"_ _It's one of those biotech pieces we confiscated from Cheshire,"_ Wally said.

 _"_ _Something is not right here,"_ Erica stated.

 _"_ _Robin, Bumblebee, Emerald, Zatanna, see if you can get Red Tornado back online, the rest of you join me to find Red Arrow,"_ Aqualad ordered. Nodding they split up to do their missions.

"The problem is hardware not software, but where do we start?" Robin said scanning him.

"Maybe with figuring out what exactly this thing is and what it does?" Emerald suggested examining the chip.

 _"_ _That would take too long, but I don't want to risk powering him up till we know what exactly caused his malfunction,"_ 'Bee replied.

Zatanna looked up at Tornado's quarters. "I have an idea."

-.-

"Seriously, when did you discover this?" Emerlad asked as they began transferring Tornado's consciousness into a humanoid android.

"When you and 'Bee were having your prank war," Zatanna replied.

"Ah, so that's why it was so quiet for thirty minutes," she realized.

 _"_ _Why did he build it?"_

"Basically, to interact closer with humans and learnt their customs and emotions," Zatanna stated.

"So, he built it to party?" Rocket snorted.

"Pretty much."

"Recognized: Black Canary—13."

"Hey guys, wanted to check in, see how you were—What are you doing to Red?!"

"It's not how it looks," Robin said.

"It looks like you're transferring his consciousness to another body."

They all looked at each other before staring at her. "Then it's exactly how it looks," Emerald smiled.

Red Tornado shot up. "TEAM GET OUT OF THE CAVE NOW!"

Canary released a cry that blasted them all back, except Robin who ducked behind one of the tables. As soon as her scream ended he ran out and attempted to hit her, only for to grab his arm, and flip him over her shoulder and slam him on the ground. She prepared to do another cry when a green bubble appeared around her, and then a small bomb on her shoulder exploded, releasing the knockout gas it contained.

"Black Canary attacked us?" Zatanna asked in shock.

"Black Canary is the least of our problems, we must abandon the cave," Tornado warned.

Sphere rolled over and transformed into bike mode, adding several more seats in the back for the others. Hopping in the drove out as the Zetatubes activiated.

"Recognized: Icon—23, Bulkhead—20, Dr. Fate—17, Captain Marvel—15."

Outside, the supercycle flew off, Wulf and Starbusrt shared the front seat, while Bumblebee drove. The rest sat in the extra seats with Red Tornado's original body and an unconscious Black Canary. Emerald flew along side them with Moonnight in her wing construct.

"Stay off your radios, have the Supercycle track superboy and instruct her to mask all signals. We cannot allow the League to track us," Tornado ordered.

 _"_ _Already done."_

"Ok, just one question: WHY IS THE LEAGUE ATTACKING US?!" Emerald exclaimed.

 _"_ _How much do you wanna bet it has to do with those biotech chips?"_ 'Bee questioned. _"Aqualad, have you retrieved Red Arrow?"_

/I'm here Bumblebee/ Roy replied.

"Good, can you explain what exactly happened?" Robin questioned.

/Yea, since I'm a clone apparently, I was a sleeper agent, pre-programmed to infiltrate the Justice League…I think Sprtsmaster was my handler. He had a key phrase: Broken Arrow, that could shut me down, put me in a hypnotic state to steal secrets for his superiors or incorporate further programming. I then subconsciously carried out all orders, comepletely unaware of what drove me/

"And one of those orders was to put suspiscion on everyone else," Emerald said.

/Yea, I think so…sorry about that/

/How did Batman discover this and prevent you from betraying the League?/ Aqualad asked the question they were all thinking.

/He didn't/

"Roy is correct, the entire League is under the complete mental domination of Vandal Savage. His method to controlling them is what he refers to as 'Starotech,' an alien bio-organism infused with nanotechnology and magic. It shuts down the mind's autonomy, it allows Savage to reprogram the individual to suit his needs; even my inorganic mind was not immune to it. But the process required 0.16 seconds to fully intergrate with the host's nervous system, during which time I installed a program that would disconnect my power core should I try to infect another. Fortunately, the Starotech is body specific, as John Smith, I am now free of outside control," Red Tornado explained.

"This Starotech worked on superpowered humans, five flavors of alien, an android, and even Dr. Fate? Defeating all of you without a fight?" Robin questioned.

"Indeed. A remarkable achievement, one not easily countered."

/Fantastic/

"Wait! I have a question! Roy! Why aren't you enslaved to this thing?" Emerald questioned.

/I didn't get infected with the Starotech, just my Cadmus programming, after satisfying its last order, my mind cleared. I'm sure Savage planned to Starotech me, but he stopped to bask. I took the opportunity to escape, unfortunately Soundwave saw me, and well, you know the rest/ he answered.

/I promise, I can clear any residual programming from your mind/ M'gann said.

"Yo! M'gann! The bioship is about to fly over, just pick us up!" Emerald called.

The ship flew over and the cycle landed inside. Pulling out the piece they snatched, the team set it down. _"Now to work on a way to cure this."_

-.-

Watchtower

"Recognized: Black Canary—13, Red Tornado—16, Red Arrow—25."

"Any problems?" Savage questioned.

"Despite an initial setback, I was able to reinfect Red Tornado and Red Arrow," Canary replied.

"As well as the rest of the Team, they await reprogramming back on Earth," Tornado stated.

 _"_ _I think not,"_ Soundwave said from where he was observing Klarion controlling the League. _"Starotech does not reprogram the mind, it gives us remote control over it."_

"Yea! We know exactly who's infected and who's not! And none of you are!" Klarion cackled.

Soundwave stepped away from his post, handing it to Klarion as tenticles emerged from his armor and bound all three of them.

"But that is easily rectified," Savage smiled as he reattached Starotech to each one and Soundwave dropped them. "In my 50,000 years of life, nothing ever troubled me more than the formation of the Justice League. Dedicated to maintaining society's calcified status quo. The League would protect mankind from disaster, crime, tragedy of any kind. Have you never heard of survival of the fittest? In essence, you heroes ought to protect humanity from its own glorious evolution. As such, you forced my more enlightened colleagues and myself to organize a response. We created a co-operative network of operatives, placed key individuals in key positions, made certain we were on the cutting edge of all new technologies: genetic engineering, biochemical engineering, robotics, nano-robotics, transportation, energy, weaponry, even techno-sorcery. Not to mention every conceivable method of mind control. Cold hard science and a little deception and now you champions of stagnation have become our agents of change, forcing the human race to evolve on a more advanced schedule. Allowing the Earth to take its rightful place as the center of the Cosmos."

-.-

The Team knelt in one of the halls, watching Robin's monitor. _"RT did it, wirelessly bypassed all Watchtower security,"_ Robin said.

 _"_ _And man was he lucky,"_ 'Bee said zooming in on someone in the feed. _"Soundwave's here. If he realizes something's wrong the entire plan could go sideways real fast."_

 _"_ _Something tells me he may not stick around much longer,"_ Emerald grinned as they saw the telepath looking at Savage with what they assumed was a death glare—not like it was easy to tell with the visor.

As if on cue he gave a motion to Klarion and a bridge appeared, but not before behind Savage's back he flipped the bird at him and vanished, probably heading back to the Nemesis to deal with something.

The entire team looked at her in shock. _"What? He was on his break, that was the only reason he was here, he was just making sure the witch didn't mess anything up,"_ Erica said crossing her arms and looking away. _"Or he already knows we're here and just wants to watch the show."_

 _"…_ _Ok…anyways, move out."_

-.-

Plastic Man was moving crates, when an arrow hit and knockout gas was released. Coughing, he stretched up to the next level trying to get fresh air when Kid ran behind him and slapped the cure on he neck, leaving the stretchy hero to collapse.

-.-

In another hall, Hawkman was walking down when Superboy sprung and punched him in the face. sliding back, he prepared to attack when Robin landed on his sholders and placed the cure on the back of his neck.

-.-

The Atom stood on an examination table in a lab with a lazer scalpel, cutting thin slices off the giant-starfish piece.

"Etativel taht tuc ffo eceip," Zatanna whispered and one of the slices began floating up.

Staring at it in confusion, Atom grew to get it, when M'gann flew over and camoflague mode and put the cure on his back as soon as he was big enough.

-.-

Rocket trapped Captain Atom in a bubble, firing at the side towards her, she lowered the dome as Aqualad landed behind him, using his water whip to slam on the cure.

-.-

Klarion growled. "The brats are aboard! They've taken away four of my toys," he growled.

"Recall all League away missions," Savage ordered. "It's time to put these children in their place once and for all."

"FINALLY!"

Tekeil meowed.

"Oh yea, hey Vandal, aren't those three supposed to have come back online by now?"

"What?!" he exclaimed turning around.

Canary screamed tossing Green Lantern back, as Tornado threw a twister at Savage. Emerald flew down and slammed a cure on her mentor, before covering her ears as Canary screamed at Klarion who just floated there with headphones smirking.

"You'll be sorry!" he sang as a boomtube opened and Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, John Stewart, and Hawkwoman came out.

Canary shrieked again only to get punched by Manhunter in camoflague, and then get struck by Hawkwoman's mace, knocking her out cold.

Red Arrow shot a flaming arrow straight through Manhunter as he density shifted, making collapse to his knees. Seeing an opportunity, Emerald made a construct and slammed him aside, hopefully knocking him out so she could attach the cure later. Roy fired again, but Batman swatted the arrow aside. Rushing forwards, the Bat grabbed his face and kneed him in the chest before punching him.

Stewart made a crane that grabbed tornado allowing Wonder Woman and Superman to rip his limbs off, tossing him in with the others.

"The children have clearly reverse engineered a Starotech cure and vaccine, so there's no point in taking them alive," Savage growled.

"Goodie," Klarion grinned only to wince as Savge was slammed aside by a giant golf club.

Emerald made a barrier as the League pounded away on it, trying to reach her. "Not so tough without all your little puppets, huh Vandal?"

"I will enjoy killing you girl," he growled. "Send the League to deal with the rest, she's mine."

Dropping her barrier, Emerald turned back into a Green. "Let's get started," she grinned.

-.-

"Captain Marvel—15. Bulkhead—20. Icon—23. Dr. Fate—17."

M'gann floated above them and shot down the cure, one hit Fate, but the other two were vaporized by Icon. Firing again, he hit Miss Martian, knocking her back into a wall.

Rocket flew up behind her mentor and put the cure on him. Before she was slammed aside by Bulkhead, watery coils wrapped around the Wrecker and tossed him down the hall. Aqualad ran over and helped Rocquelle up. "Let us hope Bumblebee handles him before he returns."

"I can agree to that."

Marvel launched at Zatanna ready to knock her lights out. "Nrut mih kacb otni Yllib Nostasb!"

"Shazam!"

Lightning hit, and the ten-year-old slammed into Zatanna. "Ow," he said as Aqualad helped him up.

 _"_ _Too back Cureotech doesn't work as fast as Starotech, we could really use these guys,"_ Rocket sighed.

 _"_ _It is a small maricle that Queen Mera, Bumblebee, Emerald, and Drs. Spence and Voko were able to make a cure at all,"_ Kaldur said.

 _"_ _Hey! If you aren't busy, we could use a little help!"_ Wally called.

 _"_ _On my way! You three rendevouzs with Robin and Superboy."_

-.-

Bumblebee landed in the rafters of the Watchtower, moving along he could see his team below him, along with several vehicons moving what looked to be an amble power source to fire up a spacebridge. Bulkhead walked into the area, joining the others in moving the power source.

Hearing a grunt, he saw Savage dodge another of Emerald's attacks. Jumping up, he punched her in the face, sending her rolling to the ground. He ran over and grabbed her throat preparing to strangle her, when she turned red and Moonnight slammed into him. Shoving the panther off, Savage pulled out his spear and Emerald made a construct of a spear and they began dueling again.

Looking back over he analyzed his options. There were five vehicons, plus the other three members of his team. Ratchet would be the easiest to deal with, he hadn't been in real battle for ages, and combat wasn't his specialty. Vehicons, easy, as always. Bulkhead, more difficult, but easy to outsmart and out maneuver…leaving Arcee, who could give him a run for his money some days.

Sighing, he looked at the drones, probably best to get them out of the way so he could handle his team. Pulling out his sniper rifle he took aim at the first. Starburst slid past him and promptly dropped from the ceiling onto one of the soldiers, making him scream as the snake bit his face and started to constrict him.

The soldiers stopped what they were and ran over to their comrade and 'Bee smirked, now they were all in the same place.

-.-

Artemis fired an arrow, only for Flash to grab it mid air. She fired another and he grabbed it too. Fring a third it hit the ground just in front of him and exploded, sending him flying back across the room.

Green Arrow fired and arrow, forcing Artemis to dodge as it exploded behind her.

 _"_ _I'm amazed we're still alive,"_ she said running over to Wally.

 _"_ _It's because they're being controlled; they're limited by whoever's pulling their strings. The very thing putting us in danger, is the only thing gving us a chance,"_ Wally informed.

 _"_ _Artemis! Kid!"_ Aqualad called running in. closing the door behind him, he nodded and she fired a cabled arrow and Kid Flash wrapped his armsaround her as she held onto the bow. _"Hold on."_ Slamming his hand on a button, an alarm began as the airlock opened

"Warning, cargobay, venting atmosphere."

The adult heroes were hurled back, making Aqualad hit the button to close the doors to keep them from getting sucked out into space. As soonas the doors closed, the three mentors slammed into them, allowing Kid Flash to run over and put Cureotech on all three.

-.-

Superboy dodged another swing from Hawkwoman's mace, Wolf ran up behind her and pounced, slamming her to the ground where Robin ran over and Cureoteched her.

Wonder Woman swung her lasso and attempted to catch the Boy Wonder in it when Rocket shielded him with a bubble. Tossing her whip back, the Amazonian soon found herself trapped in a bubble, and she began punching it.

 _"_ _Can she escape?"_ Robin asked.

 _"_ _Not if she keeps punching it, the kinetic energy makes it stronger,"_ Rocket informed. _"But, I'm stuck here! Anything I do risks freeing her!"_

John Stewart flew at them and Sphere landed on him, allowing Robin to go over and put the cure on him. Looking up he saw Batman coming down from the other floor.

 _"_ _Look out!"_ he said jumping over, only for his mentor to grabb his leg and toss him aside. Before she could be hit, Rocket flew up and out of reach.

Batman turned, cracking his knuckled as Robin pulled out smokebombs and tossed them at him. Robin ran into the smoke, landing where his mantor last was, coming from the side, Batman attempted to hit him when the protégé flipped back.

On the second platform Superboy got hit by Superman, knocking him into a wall, as Manhunter walked over. Sphere rolled over and slammed into Manhunter as Wolf charged and Superman tossed him over his shoulder, only for Sphere to land on him. Lifting the giant ball off, he tossed it into the roof before ducking under a punch from Superboy.

Bumblebee slammed onto the platform, making a crater where he landed. Rolling out of the way, Bulkhead and Arcee landed where he was and Ratchet landed not far behind him. The medic charged and 'Bee flipped over, grabbing his arm he moved his arm behind his back, shoving the Cureotech onto his head before tossing Ratchet at Bulkhead and Arcee. Arcee ran out of the way pulling out her blaster and firing at the scout. Bulkhad caught Ratchet and tossed him aside before he charged 'Bee.

Manhunter began to get up from where Sphere slammed him down. M'gann flew behind him in camoflague mode, attempting to place the cure on him his arms came out through his back and his body reversed. Turning into her full Martian form she broke out of his grip. _"Sorry Uncle J'ohn, you leave me no choice."_ Going into his head, she made him see fire all around him, before putting the cure on.

As he fell Superman punched her. Superboy growled and prepared to attack when Bulkhead was tossed into the Man of Steel. Both got up, and charged their new opponents, Superman punching Superboy through several levels, as Bumblebee slid under Bulkhead's wrecking ball before jumping up on his sholders and when Bulk looked up 'Bee grabbed the cure and applied it with a high-five to the face, possibly breaking his teammate's nose in the process. Landing again, he saw Arcee get into a fighting stance, wrist-blades out and ready. Pulling out his battle staff, he lunged and swiped under her feet. She jumped up into a flip, and he used his staff to block her blades as she came down on him. Spinning it, he tossed her off and Starburst fell down on her from the roof, using his coils to blind her before she yanked the serpent off.

Emerald slid under Savage's spear, using her own, she spun around and swiped at him, making him duck back when it almost hit his face. Standing straight up, Emerlad flew over and punched him in the face, which had little affect and he grabbed her wrist, and began crushing it. Wincing in pain, she switched weapons and stabbed up with her knife, cutting Vandal Savage's cheek as he let her go to avoid losing an eye.

Wiping the blood, he looked at her in shock, in all his years, no one had ever laid a scratch on him. The girl made a sword and shield. Smirking he grabbed his spear and charged at her.

Klarion sighed as his cat hissed at him. Dropping him down, Tekiel turned into his giant cat form, running at Moonknight, both saber-toothed cats began fighting and mauling one another.

Robin flipped away from Batman, ducking under another punch he attempted to hit his mentor when Batman grabbed his wrist and kicked him back. pulling out his escrima sticks, he used them to deflect Batman's hits. Leaping in the air, he attempted to roundhouse kick his mentor, when Batman grabbed his foot and tossed him back. Flipping in the air, Robin landed on his feet, looking around he didn't see Batman till he turned around and promptly got a fist-bump to the face, knocking him back through one of the holes Superboy made when he fell.

"We're not gonna beat them one-on-one," Robin said.

"Plan B then!" Conner replied.

"You sure about this?"

"You got any better ideas?"

"No!"

"Then yes! I'm sure about this!"

Batman and Superman flew down, grabbing his arm, Superboy tossed Robin at Batman. The Boy Wonder slammed into his mentor's gut, and they hit the wall, as the Batman fell, Robin put the Cureotech on him.

Superboy jumped and grabbed Superman, pinning his arms to his sides as they hit the wall. Robin ran over and pulled out a small obx from his utility belt. Opening it, he revealed the Kryptonite inside, making both groan as the effects hit them and Robin put the cure on Superman.

Closing the box, Robin helped Conner up. "Kryptonite…hurts," he grumbled.

"Which is why Batman keeps it in an overwhelmingly impenetrable vault in the Batcave," Robin smiled holding out a hand, and helping his teammate to his feet. "Well, more like a whelming penetrable vault."

Both jumped as Arcee crashed through the floor above them and landed not very far away. Bumblebee fell through the floors and landed on her, causing her to cough up energon as he put the Cureotech on her, lowering his mask he spat out some of his bright blue blood and displayed a nasty bruse on his jaw, there was also a gash just above his eyebrow that was steadily bleeding.

Emerald made a hammer and slammed Savage next to the Zeta Tubes. "Time to go," he growled getting up and running through.

Emerald turned and flew at Klarion who dropped his controls and flew down, grabbing his cat. "As fun as it would be, you are a real problem that I don't want to fight," he said making a portal and jumping through.

"Emerald? Klarion and Savage?" Aqualad asked as they all ran into the main room.

"The got away," she huffed crossing her arms.

"Congratulations," Tornado said, "you have won the day."

"Happy New Year, Justice League," the computer said showing the date as January First.

Music began playing and Wally picked up Artemis. "I should've done this a long time ago," he said.

"No kidding," she smiled kissing him.

M'gann and Conner turned towards each other and kissed.

Gulping down his nervousness, Robin grabbed Erica's arm and pulled her into a kiss, making the Lantern girl freeze in shock. "I've been meaning to do that for a while now," Robin smiled as Erica tried to process what happened.

"Likin' this team more every day," Rocket said kissing Kaldur on the cheek.

"Human customs still elude me," Tornado stated as Zatanna went over to try helping reattach his severed limbs.

Bumblebee leaned against the window looking out into space, before long Erica walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You ok?"

 _"_ _I've had worse."_

"We'll get him back, Bee," she reassured, wiping some of the energon off his face. "I know it."

'Bee gave a small smile and nodded in agreement.

-.-

Conner and M'gann stood watching the forest inside the Watchtower, kissing again, M'gann left, leaving him confused as Superman landed behind him. "The Team did good work…you, did good work," he said.

"Um…thanks."

"…So, I heard you took a name."

"Yea, Conner Kent."

"My secret identity is Clark Kent," Superman said.

Conner's eyes widened. "I-I didn't know! I wasn't trying to—!"

"No," Superman interrupted. "You see, the thing is, I'm glad. Conner Kent, it seems…right."

-.-

"Everything I thought I knew about myself is a lie," Roy said as he sat with their mentors and the team at the table. "I'm not a hero or a sidekick, I'm a traitor. A pawn."

"Roy," Black Canary said putting her hand on his to comfort him.

"I'm not Roy, I don't know what I am, but all it know is I need to find the real Roy Harper. I need to rescue Speedy."

"Guardian is already searching Cadmus," Batman stated.

-.-

Cadmus

Ras al Ghul walked past a shut down guardian, unconcscious gnomemorphs and doctors towards Queen Bee, Ocean Master, Lex Luthor, the Brain, and Megatron. "The League will arrive shortly, leave nothing behind we might need."

"Get moving," Megatron growled and his troops unloaded a pod, one containing the other superclone.

"Match of course," Ras smiled before moving to another. "But I believe this one may still be of use as well."

Inside of the cryo-pod was Roy Harper.

-.-

Watchtower

Black Canary and Green Arrow left with Red Arrow, leaving the others sitting at the table.

"Something else is wrong," Aqualad said.

Robin removed his arm from around Emerald and they began typing. "The entire League was under Savage's control for just over a day, before the cure was administered, and we've been able to account for most of their time," Emerald stated.

"However, these six Leaguers were missing for a full sixteen-hours that we can't account for," Robin contnued pulling up the images of the six that came through the boomtube.

"Sixteen hours…what did we do?" Batman questioned.

 **A/N: sorry about how late this is, I've just been trying how I wanted to work the ships. Thanks for your patience people! Please review!**


	45. Making Plans

Chapter 44

 **A/N: alright! Almost done! once again, I just own this story, Emerald is my friend's OC.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave_**

Nemesis, January 3

"Since Phase One of the Light's plans are complete, we are setting up Phase Two, and with the successful achievement of control over Orion's spark, we shall put his mind to work," Megatron smiled. "Have you sanitized the datacore?"

 _"_ _Yes, My Lord,"_ Soundwave nodded.

"Excellent, our new archivist will need unrestricted access to our database. It would be counterproductive for him to stumble upon any sensative information."

"Question Lord Megatron, but why would he need unrestricted access to our most sensitive files?" Knockout questioned raising an eyebrow.

"During the waning days of the war for Cybertron, we stormed the Iacon Hall of Records. During this raid, we acquired highly classified files, files written in Autobot codes that we have been unable to decipher."

"Autobot codes that the Iacon archivist Orion Pax should have no trouble cracking," the medic smirked. "Considering what's at stake shouldn't we beef-up the security around here?"

"I believe Orion will function most effectively if he does not feel threatened or confined in any way, however, it is no mistake that his workstation is in direct proximity to the energon storage vault," Megatron replied.

"Which is under constant surveillance, well played." The red-head smirked before frowning, "So what are you going to tell the Light about this?"

Megatron rolled his eryes with a chuckle. "Those pathetic Earthings have no reason to know yet."

-.-

Autobot Base

"Finally, it's nice to have a break," Wally said as he flopped onto the couch.

"Not like we haven't been busy these past few days with saving the world or making repairs or anything else," Artemis said sitting on him.

"Hey!"

"Hey Em! Why did you get called off world during the whole Unicron thing?" Robin asked plopping down next to her.

"I got invited to join the Alpha Corp, which I gladly accepted. It's really hard to get into, but I did it!" she cheered.

"Congrats Erica," they all said.

"Ok, I have a few questions," Roquelle said. "This is the Autobot Base right?"

"Yep."

"That's right."

"So, I've seen Arcee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Bumblebee, but where's Optimus Prime? I didn't even see him at the League induction ceremony, or when we were fighting the League."

They all looked at each other waiting for whoever was brave enough to say what happened. "Roquelle, I am sure you remember the series of freak storms and earthquakes last month?" Aqualad questioned.

"How could anyone forget that nightmare!? I was up for days trying to rescue people from that!"

"Well anyways, a giant being of chaos was trying to destroy the world and the Autobots went to stop him, Prime was able to defeat him and lost his memories in the process and he was kidnaped by Megatron and we haven't gotten him back yet, but we have to find a way to get to Cybertron to reach some sacred Wisdom Repository for the Primes to restore his memories," Wally explained.

"Why not use one of those worm holes?"

"The one that gets the closest to Cybertron leads right to a black hole," Emerald stated. "So we need a spacebridge."

"Which unfortunately we don't have on Earth unless we somehow find the Decepticon spacebridge we won't be able to get there," Ratchet said making them all jump.

"What if you just turbocharge the groundbridge?" Roquelle asked.

"It's not that easy Roquelle," Wally sighed, "…at least, I don't think it is."

-.-

Nemesis

Orion sifted through the records, catching a layer of code hidden n the text, he clicked on it, freezing the screen so he could decode it.

"Orion, how fares Project Iacon?" Megatron asked walking in, almost making him jump.

"I'm a bit rusty I fear, I've only magaed to decode three entries," he replied turning away from his workstation to look at his old friend.

"And what do these entries comprise of?"

"They were logged by Autobot archivists during the war, after I entered stasis," he answered running a hand through his hair. "My only knowledge of what the is content so far is that they are coordinates, targeting locations on this very planet." A holo map appeared and the three locations appeared on the map as blips. "I surmise that they might be vessels, shuttled from Cybertron for safekeeping."

"Such as historical documents or cultural artifacts?" Megatron questioned looking at the map.

"My greatest fear is weapons of mass destruction, hidden away for later use," Orion frowned.

Megatron hid a smile before turning back to his old friend. "All the more reason it is essential to keep said vessels from Autobot and Justice League reach," he said putting a hand on his shoulder. "We are lucky to have you on our side Orion Pax."

As he turned away, Orion pulled up something he found stowed away within the files. "Lord Megatron, I am puzzled by one particular finding, I have found several historical references to the Vosian Prince Starscream as being your Second in Command, yet I have not seen him aboard the ship."

"Sadly Commander Starscream is dead," Megatron replied before leaving the room, heading up towards the bridge.

Orion sighed and turned back towards the monitor to continue decoding the most recent encryption, something in his spark told him there was something he was missing, something huge as to why his old friend was being so mysterious.

Taking a breath, he turned away from the monitor, feeling through his spark for that familiar bond to his wife. _"Solarflare?"_

He felt a wave of mild surprise before she replied. _"And do tell me my dear husband, what has taken you so long to contact me?"_

 _"_ _I am afraid I have been preoccupied."_

 _"_ _So I've heard, has Megatron been difficult lately? I'd love for an excuse to abandon the front here and tear out his sorry spark!"_

And that was probably why Megatron was acting unlike himself, his sister was mad at him. _"He has been manageable."_

 _"_ _Kul'vak!"_ she cursed and he sighed with a tired smile, no matter how hard he tried to get her out of the habit of cursing, she always went right back to it, especially when she was frustraited, he honestly feared the the day they had kids because of it. Last thing he needed was a conversation with a two-vorn old why frag was a bad word. _"Alright as much as I love talking to you after all this time, I've got to get back to the battle, some of these seekers apparently forgot who the Gladiator Queen was and I need to teach them their place, even if I have to snap their spines—Oh! Tell 'Bee to stop hiding things and actually tell me what's bothering him, he's super distressed and I'm getting really worried! Please talk with him! Moonrider says hi! Call back soon! Love you! And please talk to 'Bee and don't let him pull something you would do, or Primus forbid somthing I would do! Bye!"_

Now Orion knew he was missing something significant, who was 'Bee? And why did he share a bond with them?

-.-

Getting onto the bridge, Megatron walked straight towards Soundwave. "Orion asks many questions, a valuable trait in an archivist, but not in a Decepticon. It is a matter of time before he unravels our fabrications and his inate sense of right and wrong surfaces, or worse, he contacts Solarflare and finds out everything. I only hope that Orion will complete Project Iacon before I finally kill him."

 _"_ _I will reinforce the encryptions over the sensitive files, should he get curious,"_ Soundwave replied.

"Good."

-.-

Autobot Base, January 4

"Ratchet! Come in!" Fowler snapped over the monitor.

"What is it Agent Fowler?" Ratchet asked standing up from where he was working on the groundbridge. "Is it Optimus?"

"It's Cons, and they're busting into the same military research lab they hit last month," Fowler informed as the rest of the Autobots and the Team arrived.

"Think they could be grabbing supplies for something?" Emerald asked.

"Another spacebridge?" Bulkhead suggested.

"For all we know Optimus is riding with them," Arcee said.

"Roll out," Ratchet said as Robin activated the groundbridge, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead got into their vehicles and drove through as the others ran after. Coming through the bridge they saw Breakdown fire at several tanks and Knockout used his staff to send electrical blasts at them, causing the tanks to go up in flames.

"Drop the power source!" Bulkhead growled.

"Aren't you missing someone?" Knockout asked, then a green bug swatter slammed into him.

"Aren't you missing back-up?" Emerald growled.

Planes sounded above as squadron troopers flew at them, firing their guns. Rocket made a shield in front of her team, the shots deflecting off of it.

"Drop it!" Emerald ordered making it move with the Autobot's shots.

M'gann flew up and slammed two of them together like she did in Qurac, and Superboy jumped up, slamming down on it with his fists, making the jet fall to the ground and explode. Flying down the Martian girl grabbed her boyfriend's arm and bright him back under the shield as the remaining soldiers fired.

"Ready for that bridge!" Knockout snarled as he saw the rest coming at him. Soundwave opened the bridge and he smirked, at least he was always reliable. "We'll tell the Big O you said 'Hello!" they ran through and Arcee and Emerald flew after, barely making it through the bridge before it closed. Arcee used her bike to land right on Knockout while Erica made a shield that she used to barrel right into Breakdown, sending him and the power source spiraling down the Nemesis' hall. Both ignored them, using the opportunity to find Prime.

"Scrap," Knockout cursed as they got up.

Turning a corner, Emerald widened her shield, hiding her and Arcee behind it as the vehicons shot at them. Lowering the shield last minute, Arcee jumped off her bike, shooting one as she leapt over landing, she watched as Emerald used her hammer to slam another into a wall. Seeing one approaching, Arcee lunged, punching him and landing on his chest, blades drawn.

"Where's Optimus?!" they demanded.

The man didn't answer, and Arcee raised her blade. "Answer me!"

Several more soldiers ran down the hall towards them. "Arcee you get them, I'll get him to talk," Emerald smiled and the trooper felt a chill go up his spine.

Arcee ran past as a shield dropped, rolling out of the way of a shot, she leapt at one, snapping his neck another ran up and she jumped, grabbing his shoulders and hurling him into one of his comrades. The last one turned and was greeted with several bullets to the head.

Running forwards, she jumped back on her motorcycle and drove forwards as Emerald caught up. "He's in an office near the energon vault! It's not far! We turn left at the first junction, and then at the second we make a right!"

-.-

Up on the bridge, Soundwave sighed as he saw Arcee and Emerald Lantern on the monitor, turning towards his master he showed the video. _"We have a situation, one Autobot and protégé have managed to breach the ship."_

"What?!" Megatron snapped.

"Arcee," Arachnid smiled seeing the woman on the bike. "Allow me to welcome her and her little pet aboard."

"No!" Megatron snarled. "If Orion lays eyes upon another Autobot or League member—sidekick or not—let alone be allowed to witness their deaths! Everything he believes in will be called into question." He turned towards his TIC. "See to it that Arcee and that little pain in the aft are escorted off the ship immediately!"

Soundwave nodded and walked towards where they were going to go.

-.-

Orion continued working in his office, trying to find more encryptions within the files. A small noise that had begun ringing throughout the halls not long ago began to grow louder, a sound he somehow recognized as blaster fire.

Going to his door, he exited to see several men rushing past his office. One saw him and stopped momentarily. "Orion, please return to your station, Lord Megatron's orders," he said before racing after the rest.

Ignoring the man, Orion stepped out and started to fallow where they were going to see what was going on.

-.-

"First turn is coming up," Emerald said as they flew/drove down the hall. At the end of said hall, stood none other than Soundwave.

With a growl Arcee did a wheelie and put on more speed.

As she drove past her, Erica made a construct to hit him. "Sorry about this man!" she called.

As they got closer, Soundwave set coordinates to the arctic, as Arcee jumped, he opened the bridge, sending her and her bike through, Emerald however stopped herself and the bridge closed. Hearing footsteps, Soundwave glanced back to see it was Orion walking their direction, and he still had her in front of him.

"Where's Optimus, Wave!" she growled hovering over him. "I know you know! I'm usually nice to you and I don't care if you're on duty! Be nice and tell me where he is or another prank spree will happen on this ship!"

Opening a bridge above her, he moved it down and sent her to Hawaii.

And just in the nick of time, because Orion turned the corner. "I heard a commotion," he said.

 _"_ _It was nothing to concern yourself with Orion,"_ he said walking away and preparing himself for the nightmare that will be cleaning up another series of pranks from the stubborn Lantern girl who painted the entire ship rainbow once.

-.-

Autobot Base

Ratchet put his scanner away as he finished repairing Arcee's knee. "You two weren't able to determine the Decepticon's location or if Optimus was even aboard ship?" he growled.

"Hey! I did say he was aboard the ship, Megatron put him to work, his workstation is adjacent to the energon storage vault," Erica huffed. "We just weren't able to confirm location!"

Bulkhead growled and slammed his fist down on the counter, crushing some piece of equipment, making the group of teens nearby jump.

"Bulkhead—!" Ratchet began.

"What?! You needed that?!" he snapped back slamming his fists together. "The only thing I need is our head honcho back!"

"Arcee, Em, it's not your fault you weren't able to find out, Soundwave got you before you could," Zatanna reassured.

"If any of us needed rescuing Optimus would've found a way, we didn't—simple as that," Arcee replied.

The monitor blinked and Fowler came on the screen. "What happened out there? Reports say at least a dozen wounded in the base attack!" he snapped

"Did it not occur to you to evacuate them like you always do before the League arrives?" Superboy snapped clutching the railing angrily. "Or do we have to always remind you of your job?!"

"Just get your act together!" he said before hanging up.

"Dude needs to chill, he does nothing but sit there on his but just waiting for us to need his assistance," Kid Flash hissed.

"I don't blame Fowler," Arcee said, "Optimus would've made sure all human personell was evacualted before engaging the Cons."

"We don't actually know what Optimus would've done because HE'S NOT HERE!" Bulkhead reminded.

"You're pretty good at stating the obvious Bulk," Arcee said getting off the medical bed and walking towards him, "anything else you'd like to mention that we already know?"

"Nothing I can say in front of the kids," he snarled.

 _"_ _ENOUGH!"_ Bumblebee shouted making everyone in the room freeze. _"Perhaps if you could think straight for a moment, you could think about what we just let the Cons get their hands on?"_

"Yes, we just managed to let the aquire a power source for their spacebridge!" Ratchet snapped.

"And how exactly is that a positive?" Conner asked.

Erica smiled, knowing exactly where her best friend's thoughts were going. "We let them finish it."

"Why?! So they can bring back more zombies from Cybertron?!" Bulkhead growled.

 _"_ _No, so we can commandeer it, and use it to send me back to Cybertron,"_ 'Bee said.

"Whoa, that's actually a pretty good idea," Wally said.

"Well if Wally think's a good idea," Arcee scoffed.

"We're not saying it'll be easy, but you guys took over a spacebridge before," Robin piped in.

"We blew one up, that's a big difference from seizing and holding one, even with the rest of the League helping," Bulkhead stated.

"And how can we take it over if we don't know where it is?" Artemis said.

"Well, if it's a spacebridge, shouldn't it be in space?" Rocket said.

"The term 'space' refers to its transport range! Not its physical location! And we've been monitoring Earth's orbit since the last one, we'd know if it was there!" Ratchet clarified.

"So then the bridge is right here on Earth," Zatanna said.

Wally sighed. "Like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"Well then, we better start looking," M'gann said.

"But the fact remains, we do not know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus, or if he's truly safe from harm," Ratchet said.

-.-

Nemesis

Starscream flew behind a group as they returned from patrol, landing on the flight deck, he hopped out of his jet and jumped inside just as the hangar door closed. Racing down the hall, he made his way straight to the energon storage vault. Standing straight he walked towards the men who aimed their weapons at him.

"Starscream!"

"That's _Commander_ Starscream," he snarled standing before them. "What's your malfunction? Lower those weapons immediately."

"I'm sorry Sir, but Lord Megatron ordered that you be detained should you ever return to the ship."

"What?!" he gased before chuckling nervously and clearing his throat. "Clearly there has been a mistake." He made his move, punching one, causing the man's gun to go off and hit the light. Driving his claws through his chest, the ex-SIC turned to the other, effectively slitting his throat.

Standing up straight he slicked his dark bown haor back and looed around, he sighed in relief, no one seemed to have heard the commotion. Going into the energon vault, he walked out with four cubes. Starting to walk, he growled as he heard soldiers approaching, luckily for him, there was one office that was never used right around the corner. Going inside, he set the cubes down and wiped his brow, but froze as he saw an all too familiar face turning and looking at him in shock.

Setting his missiles, he aimed them right at him. "Optimus Prime!"


	46. Taking Action

Chapter 45

 **A/N: alright, next chapter in this story! Sorry about the long wait, to tell the truth I lost track of time and got distracted with a few other story ideas.**

 **Once again, I own nothing—except Solarflare who has been mentioned, but never fully introduced.**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave speech_**

Nemesis, January 4

"Optimus Prime!" Starscream gasped aiming his missiles right at him.

Orion backed up in shock, didn't Megatron say Starscream was dead? "Please, I mean no harm."

"Oh! Then…what are you doing here?!" the greasy-haired man asked raising a confused eyebrow.

"Research, for Lord Megatron."

Starscream stared at him. "Is this a joke?"

"I do not understand," Orion replied, completely confused. Starscream lowered his weapons and stared at him dumbfounded. "And why did you call me Optimus Prime?"

"Uh…why wouldn't I?"

"Because my name is Orion Pax, I am far from being a Prime."

Starscream looked and saw the Decepticon shield where the Autobot one used to be. "I…uh…you reminded me of someone I once knew…that's all."

"You are Starscream?"

"…Yes?"

"Lord Megatron told me you had been killed," Orion stated raising an eyebrow.

Starscream chuckled. "Lord Megatron says many things, only some of which are true."

Orion looked at him surprised. "You do not suggest that our leader would speak falsehoods?" he questioned.

Starscream burst out laughing, clutching his sides, he managed to wipe a tear away. "You truly are being kept in the dark, aren't you?" he smiled.

Orion just looked more confused. "You speak in many riddles Starscream," he said approaching him, "please, tell me what it is that you know."

"And in return?" he asked.

The door opened and several soldiers stood with their weapons armed. "Starscream surrender!"

Crying out, he dove behind Prime's larger form. "Hold your fire!"

Jumping up, he activated his jetpack and shot down the hall.

"Remain in the lab."

"But—"

"Lord Megatron's orders," the soldier said as he and another took off, leaving the other two to guard the door.

Flying down the hall, the soldier flew over several of his fallen comrades, grabbing Starscream's leg, the man cried out before turning on him with a glare, slashing his face, the man cried out as the claws dug though the armor into his skin. Starscream then clawed at the jetpack, before tossing him into his fellow soldier. Flying towards the hangar, he used a missile to shoot the doors down before landing and racing towards his jet.

More men began to appear on the flight deck as a burst of wind hit, looking up they saw the old SIC's jet flying away from the ship. Taking fire, Starscream jolted in his ship as one hit home, noticing the flashing lights, he braced himself for impact.

-.-

January 5, Autobot Base

"Is the test subject ready?" Ratchet asked and Robin tested to controls on one of his remote-control vehicles.

"We're good to go," he said giving a thumbs-up.

"I have doubts my recalibrations have successfully extended groundbridge range, but there's only one way to find out," he sighed.

The bridge activated and they all watched as the small toy car drove through. "C'mon," Wally said biting his nail.

Just when it seemed it was going to make it the small car exploded and the bridge deactivated.

"Hey, it was just the first try," Conner smiled.

"No, it was pure folly, a misguided act of desperation," Ratchet sighed. "It takes eons to master spacebridge engineering, and no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons."

Aqualad nudged the others out, seeing the medic wanted to be alone.

-.-

Nemesis

Megatron walked past the guards into Orion's workstation. "Orion, I am so sorry for the recent commotion," he apologized as the archivist turned to look at him. "You weren't in any way harmed were you?"

"No Lord Megatron," he replied. "But why did you tell me Starscream was dead?"

"Because he is _dead_ to our cause," Megatron replied. "Starscream was my most trusted leutenient—until he turned traitor and joined the Autobots. Never before had I witnessed such a profound act of deception…He did not do or say anything to trouble you?"

"…No."

Megatron smiled. "Good, best to forget the entire incident and return to your project," he said.

"As you wish, My Lord."

Leaving, Megatron snarled and walked over to Soundwave. "Orion was never very good in the art of deception. I made a mistake not killing that worm when I had the opportunity—a mistake I do not intend to make again!"

-.-

Autobot Base

"No sign of energon spikes," Bulkhead sighed driving back in. Hopping out he looked to find the others still gone. "Arcee or 'Bee find anything?"

"They haven't reported back yet," Ratchet sighed.

"Yo Doc, you alright?" Bulkhead asked.

"Hmm? Yes," he replied once he got the question. "Let's just get you to the next quadrant."

The monitor began beeping and the Team ran out of the rec room to join them. "What is it?!" Emerald asked.

"It's a high-frequency signal, with an embedded message," Robin replied typing away and pulling up the message. "It' for you Doc."

"Optimus?"

"Ugh…Starscream," Erica winced. "Let's see what he had to say."

"Already on it, babe," Robin cackled making the red-headed girl sputter. "I have obtained information reguarding your leader. Bring medical kit. Come alone."

-.-

Unknown Loctaion

Starscream leaned up against the rocks, his jet sitting not far away. He was pressing his hands against the wound that darn soldier landed on him before he got in his jet and carefully monitoring a piece of shrapnel embedded in his side. A bridge opened and he looked up to see the Autobot medic…as well as Bulkhead, Miss Martian, Superboy, and Emerald Lantern.

"I-I told you to come alone!" he snapped.

"And since when do we listen to you Mr. I-Scheme-Every-Ten-Minutes?" Conner stated.

"Where's Optimus?" Ratchet questioned.

"Patch me up and perhaps I'll tell you."

Emerald flew over him in her Red Lantern uniform. "Or you can leave here with more injuries than you had before!"

Starscream whimpered. "ok."

"Has he been harmed in any way?" she asked.

"He's fine, can't you see that I'm the one that's been harmed!"

"Where is he!" Superboy snarled.

"Where do you think?! He's on the Nemesis!"

"Which is located where?" Ratchet asked.

"I don't know, it's a ship, it moves," he scoffed. "It took me months to track, only to get fired upon."

"You wouldn't go through the trouble of calling me here unless you had information to trade—real information," Ratchet stated.

"I'd advise you talk soon," Emerald cackled cracking her knuckles with a manical grin.

He gulped. "I think your beloved leader may've lost his senses. He goes by the name Orion Pax now and believes he's a Decepticon."

"Tell us something we don't know," Bulkhead said.

Starscream gaped that them. "How could you possibly know that?!"

"We're waisting our time," Ratchet said and they all turned to leave.

"That's all I have! Really! You can't just leave me like this!"

"Unless you know where Megatron's hiding his spacebridge, you can stay here and rust," Bulkhead growled.

Starscream gasped. "Spacebridge…You mean to tell me they finished it without my supervision?!"

They all looked at each other, and Starscream grinned before laughing. "It hurts most right here, doctor."

-.-

Autobot Base

The Autobots, Team, and League stood in front of the monitor. "The Decepticon spacebridge is located here, deep within an energon mine," Ratchet informed.

"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply," Flash said, "clever."

"What's our intel?" Batman asked.

"A reliable source!" Erica said.

"So, do we have a consensus?"

"Can non-Cybertronians breathe your atmosphere?" Superman asked.

"Our world has oxygen, but the amount is far less than here on Earth, and a good portion of the atmosphere in certain areas is highly toxic to those not of our world," Ratchet informed. "The masks you normally use for space battle will be perfect for them to use."

"Should we really be sending the children alone?" Icon asked.

"I'll be with them the whole time," Arcee reassured. "Too many could draw unwanted attention."

"Attention of what?"

"Let's just say not all the Cons left during the exodus."

-.-

Nemesis

Orion looked down at the monitor unsure of what to do. On one hand, he knew he should ask his wife because something told him she would have the answers to his questions; but on the other, he was afraid of what she might say or do for that matter.

Taking a breath, he began typing, pulling up an image that looked a lot like his brother. "Ok, Optimus Prime…leader of the Autobots…How could I remind Starscream of him? And…Megatron said Ratchet was the Autobot leader. Someone is not telling the truth."

Steeling his resolve to get to the bottom of this, he moved the image onto another monitor to investigate later and he typed up the next name that had been on his mind. "Bee…"

-.-

Autobot Base

"We will bridge directly into the energon mine and make our way to the spacebridge chamber, neutralizing any Decepticon forces we encounter," Batman said. "Once we've secured the bridge, we send for the Cybertron Team. Stealth is an absolute priority on this mission, as usual against the Decepticons we may be outnumbered, and if any manage to transmit an alert…"

"We go from a squadron to an entire army," Wonder Woman said.

"Scrambling communications upon entry will provide us with an edge in this reguard," Ratchet smirked.

"Taking the bridge is the easy part," Batman continued. "We'll need to hold it long enough for our Team to get to and back from Cybertron without alerting the Decepticons."

-.-

Energon Mine

The bridge opened in a small corner of the mine, allowing the members of the Justice League to come through.

"Clear," Batman said motioning everyone forwards.

Stopping at a bend, they saw a drill with two soldiers standing beside it. Motioning to Superman, Wonder Woman, and Manhunter the two flew over. Manhunter density-shifted through the drill grabbing one and Superman punched his lights out. The second guy turned on for a rope to wrap around him and he was tossed into the side of the cave, where his limp form fell to the ground.

"Command this is spacebridge control," one guy tried as he turned the corner only for Green Lantern to knock him into his buddy with a golf club.

"Tie them up," Canary said and Arcee hog tied them.

"Let's move," the Autobot woman whispered.

Running onto the elevator it went down to the bottom floor where one man stood on guard.

"Goin' down," Bulkhead said slamming his wrecking balls together on the man's head.

Running over the body into the dark tunnel, they all took cover on the roof, of behind the rocks.

"Dear God," Hawkwoman whispered as they saw the sheer size of the operation.

Six fully armed vehicons stood on the platform, while four more were on the surrounding levels above it and below it. In the back of the cave, stood a massibe bridge, twice the size of the groundbridge.

"Thank you Starscream," Flash grinned and they all looked at him. "Who else would it be?"

"True."

"He's got a point."

"Recon mission!"

"I'm up," Bulkhead smiled grabbing a drill. Lifing it onto his shoulders, he tossed it at the two soldiers closest to them, crushing them on impact.

Running in, the Green Lanterns made a shield, blocking the blind sides of their teammates as the Cons fired. Wonder Woman flew Black Canary to the second platform, releasing a cry, two of the men were sent falling off, where Icon and Superman punched them midfall, and slammed them into the ground.

Plastic Man made himself into a sling shot, Captain Marvel pulled back, releasing Batman onto the second platform. He flipped in the air tossing small-scale dentinators onto their armor. Before they could deactivate them, they exploded, knocking the men off the platform and into the high-density foam Green Arrow shot. As they tried to get out Hawkman and Hawkwoman used their maces to take them out.

"That all of them?" J'onn asked as he levitated them over to the side.

"That's it," Flash said returning.

Ratchet pulled out a metal rope. "Tie them up," he said and the Flash ran around them, hog-tying them men. Going over to the monitor, the doctor couldn't help but admire the work. "A masterpiece of engineering."

"Is it operational?"

Ratchet typed on the monitor. "Fully."

"Perimeter secure," Flash said coming back from doing a doublecheck.

"Now the scary part," Green Arrow said.

"What? Shutting down the scrambler to contact base and maintain communications throughout the mission?" Hal scoffed.

"Strike Team to Base, objective secure," Batman said.

The bridge opened and the two Autobots drove through, several other members of the Team inside 'Bee's car putting on the masks, while M'gann, Rocket, and Wally already had theirs on; Erica just laughed at them since her Lantern uniform protected her.

"Locking onto Cybertron," Ratchet said. "I'll leave the spacebridge portal open in order to eliminate any communication lag over the great distance. And make it easier for you to locate when you return."

"Wait, you aren't bridging us directly to the Big V?" Kid asked.

 _"_ _The true location of Vector Sigma is shrouded in myth and rumor, it is said that the Path of the Primes leads there,"_ 'Bee answered.

"Oh…hey since you're a Prime do you know the way?"

Bumblebee glared at him from the window of his vehicle. _"I'm not a realized Prime, I'm just another descendant, so no, I do not know the way."_

"Ready?" Arcee asked whom Zatanna was clinging to her waist for dear life.

"Sure."

"Don't worry, spacebridging is a lot like groundbridging," she reassured and the bridge turned on, making them have to shout as it turned on just so they could hear each other. "JUST A LITTLE MORE INTENSE!"

Emerald shot through, with the others right behind her.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I'M ACTUALLY ON CYBERTRON! I AM THE FIRST FOREIGN BEING TO BE ON THIS WORLD IN…ABOUT TWENTY-TWO MILLION YEARS!" Erica screamed on her knees with her hands in the sky.

"Uh…we're here with you," Wally said.

"YEA! BUT I WAS HERE FIRST! SO HA!" she exclaimed getting in his face.

The others got out and stared in awe, despite the destruction to the city, it was beautiful in its own right. Turning and looking past the bridge they stared, more city stretched out before them.

"This is amazing," Robin said in complete awe.

"Dude! We're actually on another planet!" Wally said high-fiving him.

"They're right this is…" Kaldur trailed off seeing the solemn looks on the two native's faces.

"This isn't how I wanted you to see my home," Arcee said. "In the fog of war it's hard to see beyond the next leg in the mission, the next punch in the fight, we did everything to save Cybertron, but in the end…there wasn't much left to save."

The team looked down, suddenly feeling guilty for their excitement.

 _"_ _Looks like we're in Helex,"_ Bumblebee frowned, it wasn't a city he was too familiar with, mostly because it was so close to the heart of the Decepticon territory during the war.

/Team, do you copy/ Batman called.

"We hear you loud and clear," Arcee said.

/Just keep the sightseeing to a minimum ok guys/ Bulkhead joked.

/Indeed, we don't know if your journey ahead is five kliks or five thousand/

"Understood," Aqualad said.

"Alright 'Bee, how exactly is that little card supposed to guide us?" Artemis asked.

 _"_ _We shall see, but first, I need to see if I can get something that would make this trip a lot easier,"_ he replied going towards the nearby cliff. Lowering his mask, he put two fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle.

"What is so—?" Wally began when Superboy froze and Arcee even looked on edge.

'Bee stopped for a moment as if he was trying to find something before he started again.

"Seriously, what is this—?!"

The loud roar sounded and a huge shadow shot up from below the cliff. The team could only stare as a massive creature that appeared to be completely made of metal, two heads with elongated beaks that that curved crests on the tops, two arrow-pointed tails, and was big enough to easily let Bumblebee's vehicle armor ride it as landed nearby.

Putting his mask back up, the scout ran over and tackled one of the heads, the other nudging his side. The first head dropped him and he hugged both. _"STRAFE! Drey hi staavek zey?"_

"Holy slag."

"Um…Bumblebee…what is that?" Rocket asked.

 _"_ _Guys, this is Strafe, he's my pterosaur."_

"YOU HAVE A DINOSAUR FOR A PET! AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!" Emerald exclaimed.

 _"_ _He never came up."_

"What about the conversations of awesome things you've done?!"

 _"_ _I told you I did air combat. You never asked beyond that."_

"I thought that meant you knew how to pilot! Not fly a freakin' dinosaur!"

"Erica, that is not a dinosaur, that is a dragon," Wally said.

"Dinosaur."

"Dragon."

"DINOSAUR!"

"DRAGON!"

 _"_ _Will you two knock it off, Strafe is a Dinobot, so technically he's a dinosaur,"_ 'Bee said separtating the pair before it turned into an all-out brawl.

"HA!" Emerald laughed. "Oh! 'Bee can I ride him?! Please, pretty, pretty please!"

 _"_ _Sorry, Em, he doesn't like other people very much,"_ 'Bee said stopping one of the heads as it attempted to bite her.

"Aw."

"Uh 'Bee, why did you call it here?" Arcee asked, looking over the massive beast, she had heard of the Dinobots, but never had actually seen one before. She didn't think they'd be this big.

 _"_ _Well, for one thing, it is very cramped in my car! So, Robin will be driving, while I ride him,"_ he explained pulling a saddle out of his subspace and climbing up onto him, starting to strap things down. _"I'm surprised he was close enough to hear that, I was honestly just hoping we'd get lucky."_

"I'll say we did," Erica deadpanned.

A loud roar sounded, and they looked across the ruined city.

 _"_ _And not a moment too soon, Grimlock sounds mad…though, that might be Scorn."_

"THERE'S MORE!"

"Yep, we have a whole team," Arcee sighed.

 _"_ _Everyone else ready?"_ 'Bee asked sitting down on the saddle.

"Yea…so how exactly does that little key card lead us?" Superboy asked.

Bumblebee pulled out the card and looked at it, it began to glow and a slight sound came from it. Turning, it flashed and glew brighter.

"Guess that's how," Robin said. "Whelming."

"Let's go," Arcee said, getting back on their rides, heading in the direction the keycard was leading.

-.-

Energon Mine

"This may be awhile," Ratchet sighed.

/Spacebridge control do you read? Spacebridge control this is Breakdown/

They all looked at each other before looking at the new members of the League that accompanied them on the mission. "My time has come," Plastic Man said walking forwards.

/You have one nanocycle to respond or—/

"This is spacebridge control, situation normal," he said.

/Normal? You sure about that?/

"We were just…calibrating the subsystems and we, uh, had a surge, but it's fine now. How are you?"

The others slapped their foreheads or glared at Plastic Man for his mess up.

/Uh…never better. I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work/

"Will do, control out," he sighed hanging up.

Wonder Woman came up and smacked him upside the head. "You're a fool."

-.-

Nemesis, January 6

Orion frowned as he saw heavy layers of encryption over the files he was trying to reach. "Why is the Decepticon database so heavily encrypted?" he muttered typing faster.

Finally, after several long hours of hacking, he reached the file that the name Bee pulled up. Looking at the picture he was surprised to find it was the boy he saw when he was first awakened from stasis...Why would Solarflare mention him?

"Bumblebee Prime: Rank—Class A Autobot Scout, Class B Technopath, Optimus Prime's personal spy/assassin; Age—16…Primus, they're using a youngling!" he gasped suddenly feeling sick. Primus, how could…Ratchet, why? How could he use a youngling as a killer?! It went against everything their people valued! Shaking his head, he continued reading. "Relatives: Optimus Prime (father), Solarflare Prime (mother)…" he read, trailing to a stop.

Orion blinked in shock, stopping and rereading the file; there was only one Solarflare and that was his sparkmate, she would never…

Turning to the other file on his second monitor, he began typing, trying to decrypt and encryptions over it, the screen began to wipe away the covers as it was decoded and he took a step back in shock at the sight of the new image.

"How…how could I possibly be Optimus Prime?"

-.-

 _"_ _Master, Orion has decoded the encryptions of Optimus,"_ Soundwave said showing the image.

Megatron growled in fury, that was much faster than he anticpated. "Orion still has much to accomplish, and he _will_ stay the course, even if I must inflict great pain to ensure the completion of Project Iacon."

-.-

Cybertron

The group made their way onto a large bridge overpassing a channel which connected two of Cybertron's seas. Those not having to focus on directions staring in awe and taking pictures.

Bumblebee gripped onto the saddle tighter as Strafe dove to fly next to the bridge, pulling out the keycard he held it ahead and it flashed in confirmation. _"We'll still go straight when we cross,"_ he called.

"That'll take us right into Kaon," Arcee said looking at the rising spires of the dark city.

"Isn't that the Con Captial?" Wally asked.

"Yep," Emerald replied.

"Fantastic," Artemis grumbled.

Driving to the edge of the city, they saw a bridge crossing over a dry riverbed into the looming city. Arcee stopped her bike and Robin stopped the car as Strafe landed in front of them. "We're on foot from here," Arcee said transforming and holding out her gun.

"'Bee aren't you going to use your exoarmor?" Robin asked as they hopped out of the scout's car.

 _"_ _No, we don't know how big the passage is, Arcee's using hers because it should be small enough to fit. Better to keep it on the outskirts where it couldn't get stuck under falling debris, which is unfortunate if we have to get away from something,"_ he said petting Strafe as the beast growled.

"Get away from what?"

Bumblebee and Arcee glanced at each other.

"Vermin."


	47. Remembering Allies

Chapter 46

 **A/N: alright! Almost there…I think? Sorry for the wait, this summer was extremely busy for me.**

 **Review responses:**

 **Alright, I know I don't normally do this, but I figured since it's been a bit since my last update I should at least give y'all this.**

 **Jinxxs—Thanks for your awesome reviews and reminding me to update, I have a bad habit of procrastinating.**

 **ThatOneGuyUptairs—I welcome your critical reviews, however, I do ask that you remember this is a fanfic, I'm just following whatever weird path my imagination decided to start skipping down. And don't worry, the next part will get into some of your questions a bit more. As for cloning Cybertronians, do remember Starscream, in ever single fragging verse of Transformers (besides Bayverse) he basically goes "MEET MY CLONES!" so cloning a cybertronian is possible.**

 **Coronadomontes—thanks for the compliment on the story!**

 **Mimzy94—I'm just as excited as you are, I'm already figuring out when exactly I want to introduce them, trust me, the wait will be worth it…I hope.**

 **Twilightnite13—thanks for all the reviews! I really enjoyes reading them! And as for Wally thinking Strafe's a dragon think about it like this: bigger than dinos he knows, different planet, two heads, and has basically metal plates for scales. Sounds more like the definition of a dragon—and knowing Wally West, he probably wanted dragons to be real at somepoint in his life. Who can say no to that?**

 **Legianreader2003—sorry for the wait, and thanks for the great reviews!**

 **SpiritFighter2008—man, I loved reading all your reviews. Hope this chapter answers some of your questions. As for your other questions, well…just wait and see. It'll get explained more at a later date.**

 **Apex—get an imagination.**

 **Rubeneliasrivera—in reply to you, that was a typo I forgot to correct, my bad.**

 **InterCosmicBooks—Sorry to say this, but I'd been planning the Emerald-Robin ship from the start. Trust me a lot of people were shipping her & 'Bee, my sis included (she nearly throttled me when I dropped the chapter), but trust me, I have my reasons.**

 **That and I wanted to be a little evil! :D**

 **To Guests & others I did not address—thanks for all your reviews! I loved hearing them!**

 **Anyways, I own nothing!**

 **/comm/**

 ** _Telepathy_**

 ** _'_** ** _Bee/Soundwave speaking_**

 **'** **Bee and someone else speaking at the same time**

January 6, Cybertron

The team walked down the alleys of the once prosperous city, they all had to admit being in such a big city that was so silent was eerie. A shadow passed above causing Zatanna and Rocket to jump, looking up they all saw it was just Strafe flying above.

Bumblebee held out the keycard as they came to a junction, turning one-way the glow dimmed, turning the other it lit up. _"We're getting close."_

Coming out of the alley they all stared at the massive structure before them, it was an arena that made the big ones for the football teams and the Olympics look small, and on the flat part above the entrance stood a statue of Megatron with his sword and shield and next to him was a woman who held a sythe.

"The Gladiator Arena," Arcee gasped.

"Whoa," all the teens said as they walked in.

"Where to now?" Arcee asked.

As if in answer, the ground began to rumble, cracks spread along the ground, and the shaking caused parts of the grand arena to fall. Before their eyes, a structure rose out of the ground.

"I am totally whelmed now," Robin said and the others nodded as they walked up to the new structure. Bumblebee held out the key and the door glowed, before retracting, leading into a tunnel. "So wait, Vector Sigma's down there?"

"Kaon didn't always belong to the Decpticons, Megatron took it as a capitol, apparently without ever realizing that the sacred city laid beneath his feet," Arcee said. A few rocks fell from the top and they looked up to find a being, with mandibles and two extra arms equipped with pinchers covered in exosuit-like armor glaring down at them, his four solid red eyes norrowing.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" Artemis shouted notching an arrow, firing it exploded, and the being landed and rolled to its feet, proving to be much bigger than any of them thought, it was about Bulkhead's size when he was in his vehicle armor standing up.

Arcee began firing and it lunged at her, swatting her to the side.

"Arcee!" they called making it turn towards them, looking at the fresh morsels it stopped at the sight of the Key to Vector Sigma.

Roaring, it lunged at them, only for Arcee to blast its face and slam it aside.

"Yo! We're being attacked some kind of giant bug-thing here Doc, any clue how to defeat it?" Kid Flash commed.

/An Insceticon!/

/Why is a Decepticon still on Cybertron?/ Black Canary asked.

/A few remained as sentries, should the other party ever return, we left our own form of sentries, the Dinobots/ Ratchet replied.

Arcee transformed and drove towards the side, the Insecticon ran after, only for her to transform again, roll under and continue firing as it ran itself into a wall. "YOU KIDS GO!"

"WHAT?!"

"YOU HEARD ME!" she snapped. Hearing a roar, they saw Strafe flying in a circle above them and she smirked. "I've got back-up! You all just get into the temple!"

 _"_ _Let's go,"_ 'Bee said running in, the other reluctantly turned and fallowed Watching the door close behind them, seeing a flash of Arcee getting slammed back by the Insceticon, along with a slam from two long tails landing just after.

-.-

Nemesis

"Orion, have you made progress with Project Iacon?" Megatron asked walking into his workstation.

"It seems I am a bit rustier than I thought," Orion replied curtly.

"Perhaps that has to do wih the nature of after-hours research," Megatron snarled. "Did I fail to mention that we'd be tracking your activities?" He pressed a button and the files on Optimus Prime and Bumblebee appeared.

"Why does history portray Moonrider, Solarflare and I siding with the Autobot agressors? Why did Solarflare mention this _youngling_ when I contacted her? And why did Starscream call me a Prime?" he said whirling on Megatron with a glare. "I must know: who am I?! And what the pit aren't you telling me?!"

"You are my clerk, Orion," Megatron growled. "Now get back to work and decode that database!"

Orion looked at him before looking at the screen. "No. I would rather erase all my findings than make them available for your questionable use," he said pressing the delete button, wiping out all the data he recovered.

Looking away from Megatron's glare, Orion bit back the twinge of shame in his gut. This was for the best, Megatron was not the same as he once remembered, his motives were now questionable.

He began to turn and walk away, before stopping as Megatron began laughing. Orion turned back as Megatron pressed a button and all his findings were there on the screen. "Did you really think we wouldn't be tracking and documenting every detail of your invaluable work?"

The door opened and Soundwave walked in with a picture of Cybertron on his visor. _"My Lord, I apologize for the disturbance, but one of our sentries on Cybertron has been activated."_

"You told me our planet was dead," Orion growled.

"That is beside the point! Guards!" Megatron snapped and two men walked in at attention. Turning back towards Orion he pulled out his sword and held it at Orion's throat. "You _will_ finish project Iacon by the time I return, or I will carve out your spark before your very eyes and destroy your precious sparkbonds."

-.-

Cybertron

Arcee jumped as the Insecticon slammed its claws down where she was a moment before. Running towards one of the side structures she jumped up, swinging off one level to reach the top, where she continued firing.

As she anticipated, he turned into beetle mode, it flew at and slammed into her, landing on the ground she groaned before passing out. The Insecticon landed and went to bipedal mode, going to the now closed doors he started to pry them apart when something big landed behind him. Slowly turning, he froze as he saw one of the Dinobots before him, its two heads glaring at him. The right head lifted into an s-shape before it lashed out and grabbed him by the waist. The other head grabbed the top part and they began pulling, ripping the smaller Decepticon creature apart.

-.-

The Team made their way down the large tunnel, the only light being from Emerald's glow, Robin's glowsticks, and the keycard.

Grooves marred the walls, indicating the presence of scraplets. Hearing scuttling, they all stopped and looked around.

"Keep your eyes open, we don't want any scraplets ambushing us," Aqualad said.

"What's a scraplet?" Zatanna asked.

"Nasty, little, Cybertronian creatures, they look cute, but are extremely dangerous to Cybertronians," Wally shivered.

"Have you ever seen The Mummy?" Emerald asked and they nodded. "Just think of the flesh-eating scarabs, but bigger, can fly, and have big anime eyes."

"Yikes."

"That definitely describes them," Robin shivered. "We had to deal with a whole swarm a few months ago, Base was nearly totaled."

Gulping, they all made their way down the dark, foreboding path lined with massive statues of Cybertronian knights in imposing armor that was carved into the metal in incredible detail, and every now and then there'd be a massive tunnel on either side leading into darkness.

"This place must've taken centuries to carve," Zatanna whispered.

"Where do those other halls go?" Wally asked pointing at the one they were passing.

 _"_ _Just stay on the path,"_ 'Bee stated coldly.

"Do they lead to the sacred city?" Emerald asked with wide eyes and a huge grin.

 _"_ _If you even think of leaving this group the temple guards will kill you."_

"Wouldn't anyone trapped down here be dead by now?" Rocket questioned.

 _"_ _The temple guards aren't alive,"_ 'Bee stated, _"we've been walking between them for a while now."_

Suddenly the size of the doors made sense as the rest of the team looked up at the massive knights.

"What..." M'gann gulped, "what are they guarding?"

"Is it the city?" Erica grinned.

 _"_ _If you mean the Tombs of the Primes, then yes."_

"Uh…Tombs?" Rocket said. "As in dead bodies? In a place with evil flesh-eating bugs and cursed statues? Like The Mummy?"

 _"_ _Well you're forgetting about the traps and other curses as well,"_ 'Bee stated, _"from the stories Dad told me, I reckon this place is full of them."_

"That's reassuring," Zatanna muttered.

"How are we sure we won't activate any?" Aqualad questioned.

"As long as we have the key we should be fine," Erica said, glancing at 'Bee, "right?"

He nodded in response glancing at the key to make sure it was leading them correctly.

Coming to the end, the key glew and the door also began to glow before it retracted back, nearly blinding them all as bright light hit them.

Walking through they all gasped, the room was covered in beautifully intricate markings and symbols of a language now known only to a few, glowing blue flames stood on either side of the bride towards a center platform.

"Hey everyone, we're in!" Emerald called as she flew around them room.

As the others admired the place, Bumblebee walked across the bridge, going to a glowing panel on the floor. Setting the Key down, he stepped back as it grew to fit the blue patterns, and the entire floor of the central podium began glowing.

The large platform he was on retracted back, and stood up, making him fall to the ground. The others ran over only to stop as the rest of the floor in the center of the large circle retracted, revealing a glowing white orb of energy with three large rings with intricate carvings circling it in different directions at different rates.

The metal around the keycard began to glow, flashing every few seconds.

"Wow."

"This is amazing."

"I've never seen anything like it."

The moment of awe was soon broken by an all too familiar sound. "Oh no," Emerald said as they all turned to see scraplets, hundreds of them coming out of the tunnel and digging into the untouched walls. Simultaneously they all turned, their gazes landing on the downloading key and Bumblebee.

"Rocket! Make a shield around Bumblebee and the key!" Aqualad ordered.

Doing as he asked, she made the large bubble, surrounding the platform with the weird spinning orb, the thing they key was on, and her teammate. "So are they going to try and eat it and you?!" she asked.

 _"_ _Yep! Welocme to Cybertron, everything is deadly."_

The small beasts were bouncing off the barrier, desperately trying to get through. _"_ _Les poissons, les poisons_ _._ _How I love les poissons!_ _Love to chop and obliterate little scraplets!_ _"_ Emerald sang running them over a lawn mower.

/What's wrong?/ Ratchet asked.

"Scraplets! Don't worry Rocket has a bubble protecting 'Bee and Vetor Sigma!" Robin called throwing several bombs into the air. Several of the flying creatures saw the metal objects and flew over eating them, only to blow themselves up. "…And Emerald's singing songs from the Little Mermaid."

"First I cut off their heads! Then I pull out their bones! Ah, mais oui, ca c'est toujours delish. Les poissons, les poisons, Hee-hee-hee, haw-haw-haw. With the cleaver I hack them in two!" Emerald continued singing as she chased more scraplets in her Black Lantern suit.

-.-

Nemesis

"No one told you to stop Pax," a guard growled as they aimed their weapons at him.

Taking a breath, he turned towards the men. "I believe Megatron intends to use whatever he finds in Project Iacon to harm the Autobots," he said. "Please, we can warn them."

He was answered by a hit to the gut making him double over as the guard kicked him and aimed his weapon at his head.

-.-

"Activity logs indicate the spacebridge was set for Cybertron and remains open?" Megatron said looking at his TIC. "The only possible reason the Justice League would take such a risk, would be to restore Prime's memories. Activate a groundbridge."

Nodding Soundwave did as commanded and Megatron bridged into the mine.

/…and Vector Sigma/

"So, Vector Sigma is more than legend?" Megatron sneered making the League turn as he and several soldiers walked through. "You Autobots and humans have gone to impressive lengths to recover Prime. Be assured, I will never underestimate you again." The League got into fighting stances as Megatron approached and his soldiers took their own stances. "Now, I assume the one called Arcee will be stepping through that portal, with a reloaded Matrix of Leadership in hand."

"We hold the spacebridge at all costs," Batman said tossing some smokebombs down, filling the area with smoke.

Megatron growled and spun as Superman attempted to jump him from the shadows, grabbing his throat he swung him into Wonder Woman's lasso as she sent it at him, wrapping it around the Man of Steel. Yanking the rope, he sent both of them into a wall. Bulkhead ran out of the smoke and he punched the Wrecker in the gut, causing him to land on Superman and Wonder Woman.

Martian Manhunter tried to get into his head, but Soundwave stepped out and released a brain blast, making them all cry out before falling unconscious. "Well done Soundwave," Megatron praised. "You and the troops return to the warship, I will eliminate Arcee, when she finally comes through and with her dead, I shall destroy the matrix and with it the Primes."

-.-

Cybertron

Arcee woke up with a gasp, looking around she saw the Insection gone, and Strafe napping near Vector Sigma's entrance with the remains of an exoskeleton around his heads and energon on his maws.

"You eat him?"

The Dinobot looked up and the left head coughed up the Insecticon's skull.

"…Good boy?"

-.-

"It's starting to get really tiring holding this!" Rocket snapped.

"We're almost done!" Wally said as he, Zatanna, and Artemis smacked them with metal rods they found. Kaldur ran past and used his waterbearers to make a mace to smash several with. Superboy sat on top, slamming a metal panel down onto the scraplets as M'gann above him making the scraplets think cannibalizing each other was a fantastic idea. Erica's lawnmower zoomed past, running over a few more as she continued singing.

Soon enough, the sound of scraplets stopped.

"Is that it?" Rocket asked.

One landed right in front of her and Artemis screamed before beating it to death with a pipe. "Now it is," she huffed.

Rocket lowered the dome and long beep sounded. Looking towards the energy ball, they watched as it slowly disappeared back under the panels, and the stationed lowered, allowing 'Bee to run over and grab the Key. _"Lets go!"_

Running out they saw Arcee and Strafe waiting for them. "You got it?"

"We got it!" Emerald said using her ring to pick them up.

"What happened to that other guy?" Rocket asked.

"Strafe ate him," Arcee stated.

 _"_ _That's my boy!"_ 'Bee cheered rubbing his necks, the Dinobot crooning as he climbed back onto the saddle and Emerald made a platform allowing everyone to hop on.

Flying them over the city, they landed next to 'Bee's car. The others hopped in and they headed straight for the spacebridge.

-.-

Nemesis

Orion grunted as another kick hit his side. "I have to admit, it's a privilege to stomp the former leader of the Autobots," one guard sneered.

Orion looked at the monitor showing Optimus Prime; so it was true. He didn't have much time to ponder this new revelation as they began beatng on him again. "Please stop," he said as they continued their punishment. "ENOUGH!" Sitting up he raised his arms, which now had blasters on the ends of his armor. "I—I'm armed?"

The men began firing at him, ducking down he closed his eyes and shot back randomly, looking up he found both men on the ground, dead.

-.-

Cybertron

"We're almost there!" Robin cheered.

"Ratchet, we have the matrix, we're coming through!" Arcee called.

/…/

Stopping, Bumblebee jumped off Strafe, giving him one last pat before letting his pet fly off as they all stopped. "Ratchet? Batman? Superman?" Arcee asked again trying to reach someone.

"Something's wrong," Artemis frowned.

"We can't not go through…can we?" M'gann said.

On the other side of the bridge, Megatron stood waiting. "C'mon Arcee, so I may end the Lineage of the Primes for all time."

"I cannot allow you to do that Megatron," Orion said stepping through the groundbridge.

"Why should you care Orion Pax, you are no Prime," Megatron sneered.

"That may be true—or yet another deception. But I know this much, my sympathies lie with the Autobots, and you are not one of us," he said pulling out his swords.

Orion charged with a battle cry and swung down, using his arm, Megatron blocked the blades, and slammed his fist into Orion's gut. "Your spark may be in the right place Orion…" Megatron's elbow came down on his head, shoving him to the ground. "…but you have much to learn again before you can possibly hope to stand your ground against me. A moment that shall never come," Megatron snarled pulling out his sword.

Raising it to kill, Megatron failed to notice the Green Lantern shoot out of the bridge. "BUCKET LORD!" Turning the warlord's face was soon greeted with a green shoe as Erica kicked him in the face, causing energon to run out of his nose with a satisfying crack. Miss Martian flew out and lifted him into the air, allowing Superboy and Arcee to jump and punch him. Aqualad then used his waterwhips to grab Megatron's legs and hurl him into a barrage of explosive Bat-a-rangs and arrows.

Orion looked at the odd sight for a moment, before turning to see the last one come out of the bridge, the one known as Bumblebee…the one the file said was his son. In his hand, he held up the Matrix. "…Are you certain I am worthy?"

 _"_ _Trust me, you have no idea,"_ 'Bee smiled as a beam came from the keycard and shot into the Matrix.

Megatron grabbed Arcee's wrist and held her up against the wall. "Nice of you to join our little reunion, now, where is the Matrix!?"

"Not here!" Superboy said jumping down, however, Megatron rolled out of the way. Grabbing the boy's leg and tossing him to the side.

Megatron got to his feet with a growl before he froze, Orion was getting back the Wisdom of the Primes! Charging towards them, he swatted aside those who were trying to get in his way, pulling out his sword he jumped and swung with the intent to kill. "NO!"

Just like Megatron did at the Volcano, Optimus caught the blade with his hands just inches from his face. "Megatron," he growled his battlemask sliding back into place, "begone!"

Pulling back a fist he punched his archenemy in the face, sending him reeling back. Chasing after he slammed several more punches before sending his opponent flying back into the farthest wall.

"Begone? That's the best you had?" Wally commented.

"Batman? Ratchet? How exactly did we get here?" Optimus asked as the rest of the League joined them.

/Base to Team, we're getting five Autobot life signals, did you get Prime?/ Atom asked.

"We're all here."

Megatron climbed back up wiping away the blood on his lip. The League prepared to fight when a bridge opened next to them. "It's ours," Batman said. "Fall back!"

They began racing through the bridge, sending the Team first so the teens wouldn't get hurt.

"This time, he's coming with us!" Flash said quickly running out a trip wire, causing the disgruntled Decepticon leader to fall.

Watching them all disappear, Megatron roared in rage.

-.-

Autobot Base

The members of the League that stayed behind at Base ran over to the bridge, congratulating the Team as they came through.

"You guys did great."

"How was Cybertron?"

"Is Prime back?"

As if to answer their questions, Optimus walked through the bridge at that moment, removing his helmet.

"Optimus! Did you miss me!?" Emerald asked flying over him with a wide smile.

"…No."

"WHY?!" she exclaimed falling to the ground.

"Hey, at least he remembers us," Robin said consoling her.

Optimus rolled his eyes at her overdramatics. Looking at his shoulder he frowned at the symbol marring the armor covering it. "Though there seems to be much I do not remember," he sighed.

"Join the club, you missed a lot while you were gone," Superman said.

"I have?"

The entire Team groaned. "Yes."

-.-

Optimus stood on the top of the base contemplating what he had learned occurred during his absence. It shouldn't have been surprising that Megatron allied himself with individuals just as sick and twisted as he…Optimus just never thought Megatron would choose to use the League like slaves to complete whatever their mission was, considering the warlord's past…

 _"_ _A little late for you to be out,"_ 'Bee said walking out wearing a pair of loose sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt.

"You're one to talk, unlike you I have not had as long days as you have," he replied raising an eyebrow.

 _"_ _Well, unlike you I have been waiting for someone to have a discussion with me that they said they were going to have with me after a certain mission ended,"_ he said sticking his hands in his pockets.

Optimus sighed, Solarflare was going to kill him. "I did tell you that."

 _"_ _So…what is it?"_ 'Bee asked, nervously rocking on his heels. _"Is it 'the talk'? Because I grew up with the Twins, Mirage, Jazz, and Ironhide so I am already versed in that horrible conversation. And I don't wish to repeat it."_

Optimu sputtered. "Wh-What? No! Bumblebee, I know you know my side of the family very well…"

 _"_ _What is the purpose of this?"_

"Let me finish," he said with a stern look as the teen sat next to him. "Primus, you're as impatient as your mother. Anyways, I know you know my side of the family well, but how much do you know about your mother's?"

'Bee blinked at that. _"I, uh…well, I know she's distantly related to Onyx Prime, but other than that…nothing."_

"For good reason," Optimus said making Bumblebee look at him in confusion. "Your mother's side is…different from mine to put it…" He sighed and put an arm around his son's shoulders. "Bumblebee, your mother and I agreed not to tell you this till you were old enough to understand, however considering the recent events that have transpired I believe that you deserve to know."

 _"_ _Is this why Grandpa didn't like me?"_ 'Bee asked thinking of Sentinel. He wasn't old enough to remember much about him, the previous Prime was killed when Megatron slaughtered the High Council in the war's early years, 'Bee was around two or three at the time, but he did know that he loathed his mom and seemed to be offended by 'Bee's mere existence. Not to mention whenever 'Bee asked about him to his parents his father grew quiet and outright avoided the question before directing his attention to something else or his mom would simply say he wasn't important before cursing Sentiel explicitly under her breath.

"Yes, your mom was a descendant of more than one Prime like I am, however, she was descended from Megatronus Prime."

'Bee frowned, he knew that name, wasn't there a bad legend surrounding him? "He was one of the Origininal Thirteen, right?"

"Yes, but you know him better as the Fallen," Optimus stated grimly and 'Bee paled, "making you a member of the line of Dark Primes. It's why…why the dark energon didn't affect you, why you have your birthmarks, those are traits seen on Dark Primes."

Bumblebee's hand reached up to the back of his neck, where some of the black stripes could be seen peeking out from under his shirt only to be covered by his hair. _"And…and you and Mom didn't want to tell me because…because you thought I'd turn evil?"_

Optimus hugged him, resting his chin on the top of his head. "No, Little One, we never thought that, it was my fath—Sentinel who feared it. We figured my status as a Prime caused it to emerge; we just wanted to protect you. Sentinel would've had you killed if he found out."

'Bee gulped and pulled away. _"…And I'm guessing Megatron figured it out?"_

Optimus nodded and 'Bee put his head in his hands.

 _"_ _Primus, what are the others going to think?"_

Optimus gave him a soft smile and ruffled his thick raven hair. "You don't have to tell them if you don't want to, the choice is yours. Just know that true friends stick through no matter what, your uncle didn't agree with my choice to marry your mother, but he still agreed to be my best man anyways. Magnus might be a stick in the mud as you've called him, but I know he'll always have my back when it counts."

Bumblebee smiled and got up. _"Thanks Dad."_

"And where are you going?"

 _"_ _To tell Erica, I think she already knows but I have to be sure, and like you said, true friends stick with ya no matter what like she always has with me,"_ he replied putting his hands behind his head. _"Promise me you won't stay out too late."_

"It's not your job to worry about me Little One."

 _"_ _Someone has to give Doc a break otherwise he's gonna blow a fuse."_

Optimus shook his head smiling. "You're just like your mother you know that?"

 _"_ _Funny, Mom and everyone else say I'm just like you,"_ 'Bee smiled going inside, leaving Optimus confident that despite the new threats possibly looming on the horizon, they'd find a way to overcome them with their new friends and allies on Earth.

 **A/N: FINALLY! I HAVE DONE IT! I HAVE COMPLETED THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY! THE SEQUEL WILL BE UP AT SOMEPOINT (meaning as soon as YJ is back on Netflix)! LOVE ALL THOSE WHO HAVE REVIEWED AND WHO HAVE PUT UP WITH MY INCONSISTENT UPDATES (IN ANY STORY)!**

 **Ok, excited rant over, once again, I'm really sorry for the wait, I've edited this chapter Lord knows how many times, and it still managed to kick my aft.**

 **I shall see you all in the next part or in any other story I have. Kudos to any who found any intended or unintended references to other things. And for those who were wondering Strafe and the other Dinobots look like they did in AoE.**

 **Also, Moonrider—who I mentioned a few times in these final chapters—is Mimzy94's OC and Solarflare is mine, you'll be officially introduced to both in the next part. And remember Erica belongs to Sil Vaturha 98 and you can check out more of her story in** ** _Emerald Lantern_** **, which you can find on my favorites page** ** _._**


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